A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a parent talking about how her young son was telling his soccer coach about why we don’t say Alleluia during Lent. She explained that the entire team had a discussion about the Catholic Faith what going to a Catholic School meant to him. She concluded with, “We feel this whole situation is a huge reason that we send our children to SHOJ and invest in their Catholic education. To see the joy and hear that he was able to talk confidently about his faith is a reflection of our school and parish. You are all doing a great job of instilling faith into our children and making them proud to share their love for it!”
I love getting news like this. One of the reasons that I have such a strong belief in Catholic Education is just that. We need to live it constantly for it to be well grounded.
This has been another tough week with the school shooting in Nashville. Along with our faith, we know that we need practice all things so that they become a ingrained or instinct. School fire drills learned from the same concept. Schools were required to do them once a month and this drastically decreased the number of deaths in school fires. Today safety drills are the same, we are required to do 4 fire drills, 2 tornado drills, and 6 safety drills each school year. The safety drills include a variety of lock down/lights out, secure entry, shelter in place, and evacuation.
When I started at Sacred Heart 5 years ago, Fr. Pat was working on enhancing safety throughout the campus. We had a committee that helped us write a manual that we review several times a year. The Defend System training that was used in Nashville is very similar to ALICE and many others. It gets the adults to consider how to keep out an intruder, how to fight one and when to run (where to go etc). We review these with the staff every August and it is brought up several times a year, often having the teachers reread the manual.
Our manual and these methods of training are based on what we learn after studying an incident. As part of our plan, we had lock sticks installed on all classroom doors (a metal peg that goes into a hole drilled into the floor to secure the door – approved by the fire department), created a GO Bucket (that is zip tied) with many items to help in an emergency (medical, safety and tools such as pepper gel/hammers to break windows), and trained the staff. In our building, we added many cameras, the secure entry, and the check in system.
Most importantly, every agency I talk to says that people are the biggest part of keeping us safe. We need to be aware of our surroundings, look for unusual activity and be ready to react. This means that we have all people follow protocols such as using the front door, not asking students to let us in back doors, etc. Many of you know that Mr. Billquist is a retired police officer. He has expert skills on knowing people, watching the cameras, and sensing when something is out of place.
I received calls from some of you just wanting reassurance that this is on our minds. I can assure you it is very important to us. I also received the link below which was reassuring that we are on the right path. By 10 am on Tuesday, we were reviewing an email to send to the teachers with reminders about awareness. Our substitute counselor texted me that she was on her way in early if there was a need.
There is no way to truly know what each day will bring, how we will need to rely on our faith or if it will be our last. Here is another parent email that I received in response to this:
“Know you are all in our prayers of gratitude and ongoing requests for blessing and protection.
Events like the one in Nashville are gut wrenching. My heart aches for all involved including the shooter - prayers and prayers and prayers. The article linked below speaks to the safeguards in place at Covenant that prevented even greater devastation. SHOJ has similar safeguards, tested regularly and taken seriously. I am not so naive to think nothing could ever happen in our little community, but I am confident in these protocols. We are ever grateful to you, Mr. Billquist and his security team, and the entire Sacred Heart staff for the procedures and practices in place to keep our school safe. Thank you.
Equally as important, I want to thank you for the safe-keeping of our children's mental, emotional and spiritual health. We have personally leaned on SHOJ many times over the past years to support our kids through hurt and hardship. I'm certain that's true for a great majority of the school community. There are so many hurting in our world - confused, lonely, angry. In an age where our young people are encouraged by some to "find themselves" in empty lifestyles and life choices with potentially devastating consequences, SHOJ is a place that offers His message, lifting our children up with kindness and love.
I truly do thank God for each and every one of you - you are always in our prayers.”
Shooter ‘Clearly’ Tried to Enter Barricaded Classrooms at Nashville Christian School Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/shooter-tried-to-enter-barricaded-classrooms-at-nashville-christian-school_5159434.html?utm_source=ref_share&src_src=ref_share&utm_campaign=bn-cc&src_cmp=bn-cc
Thank you for your support of your children and our school.
Kathy Rhodes