Dear Lacey Township School District Families,

Welcome back to school! As we prepare for the start of another exciting and productive school year, I wanted to communicate to parents and families the numerous steps we are taking to ensure that the Lacey Schools are safe environments for our students and staff. During the summer, we installed new security vestibules in each of our six schools that will require new visitor management protocols.

New Visitor Management Protocols

•   No visitor may enter a building during morning student arrival.

•   At the main entrance, each visitor will state the purpose of his or her visit and/or specify with whom they have the appointment prior to entering the vestibule.

•   After the visitor is verified, the visitor will be buzzed into the vestibule.

•   Each visitor must be acknowledged individually through the buzzer system before entering the vestibule.

•   Each visitor will be required to present and leave photo identification and obtain a visitor’s pass and lanyard prior to entering the building.

•   Upon exiting the building, the visitor must return the visitor’s pass to receive the identification that was provided at entry.

•   If a visitor wishes to drop off an item(s) for a student (lunch, homework, etc.), the visitor will be asked to please label and deposit that item(s) in a cubby located in the vestibule.

•   If a visitor plans to pick up a student early, the visitor is asked to please notify the school’s main office prior to dismissal. In the event of an emergency, the visitor is asked to please call and notify the school’s main office.

Additionally, below are some of the ongoing safety measures we began implementing in previous years, as well as new programs we are introducing that will further enhance the safety of our schools:

•   A School Safety Officer or a Class III Officer in place at all school sites.

•   Monthly age-appropriate school security drills developed to align with best practices of the NJ Department of Education’s Office of School Preparedness and Emergency Planning.

•   Continued implementation and training of ALICE protocols, an alternative to the traditional lockdown approach to student safety.

•   Implementation of Raptor Technologies, a new visitor management hardware/software system that will be used in all schools in 2019-2020 to streamline the visitor check-in process.

Please know that the Lacey Township School District continuously works to maintain environments that reflect our core mission, and we want students and families to feel welcomed, as well as secure, at our schools.

Thank you for your support in keeping the Lacey Township School District safe.

Sincerely,


Dr. Vanessa R. Pereira
Superintendent of Schools