Minisink Valley parents/guardians:

For your awareness, the district and its law enforcement partners are taking part in a districtwide lockdown drill this morning, March 1. Students and staff were notified that a drill would be taking place by their building principals before it began. There is a sizable law enforcement presence on our campuses but there’s no reason to be alarmed.

This type of drill secures all buildings and safely shelters students, staff and any visitors inside our buildings. Its purpose is to keep students and staff  safe from any danger inside or outside our buildings. During this drill, all perimeter doors and classroom doors are locked and remain locked until the danger(s) or issue(s) outside or inside the buildings is removed. No one is allowed to enter or leave the buildings until the drill is completed.

Drills like this take place throughout the year in order to maintain a safe and secure environment for our students and staff. It’s important that we practice our emergency and crisis response plans by having drills designed to test our procedures which can best mirror unexpected situations. We want our students and staff to know what to do in such instances.

If this was not a drill, our intense focus — and that of our law enforcement and emergency responder partners — would be on dealing with the actual emergency.  Because of this, we want to remind you that you should not come to the school campus or call school offices so our full and complete attention remains with the actual emergency. You should not be contacting your student or staff because they, too, will be focused on the actual emergency.  We want to again assure you our first priority is always the safety and security of our students and staff on our campuses.

Additionally, if this was an actual emergency,  the district would quickly communicate accurate information, along with any appropriate updates, to you via its website, School Messenger notification system and Facebook page. Please use today’s drill as an opportunity to check and ensure that the contact information we have for you is current so that you can receive information without delay in the event of an emergency.

Thank you to our administrators, faculty, staff and law enforcement partners for their work today to ensure the continued safety and security of everyone on our campuses. We also appreciate your support and understanding of our need to practice our emergency and crisis response plans.