Dear PSD community,
Safety isn’t a nicety. It’s a necessity, as basic a need as food, shelter or emotional connection. Safety isn’t achieved through policy. It's a way of thinking that needs to be practiced and reassessed.
We are all ambassadors of safety. By fulfilling this duty – not just in Poudre School District but throughout our community – we are stronger together.
This message was clear at PSD’s Oct. 4 Crisis Prevention Conference, attended by 257 PSD staff (members of district, department and school Crisis Response Teams), and our charter school and emergency response partners.
Attending sessions, led by PSD professionals, school resource officers and public health experts, I experienced a deep sense of pride. Pride in our system’s collective commitment to learning and growing in this space to ensure that students, staff and families feel emotionally and physically safe. And when they feel safe, they can thrive with a high-quality public education.
Our work around safety and security in PSD is rooted in nationally recognized standard response protocols for crises and best practices for responding to adolescent and adult trauma. We have secured entrances to our schools; we have hundreds of district mental health and security professionals; and we practice fire and lockdown drills multiple times each school year.
As much as I wish I could, as a father and educator, I can never guarantee that bad things won't happen. But I can say confidently that our staff and our safety partners throughout the region care deeply and work tirelessly to make our schools secure.
We train together. We make improvements together. And we work every day to keep our students and staff as safe as possible. Of that I can assure you.
As we closed out a full day of difficult but fulfilling crisis training, staff were treated to a meet-and-greet with two alpacas from Sunrise Silhouettes. These therapy animals brought smiles to the faces of so many of my colleagues faces and served as a reminder that good can exist with bad in our world.
It is my honor to serve as your superintendent. Thank you for your continued partnership.
With appreciation,
Brian Kingsley
Superintendent