School Safety

The events of the past couple of weeks in Florida have once again shed the light on the vulnerability of virtually defenseless students and staff in the school setting.

The Liberty Center Local Schools realizes the concern of parents, students, staff and the community and the degree of preparedness of the school district. State law and local policy dictates to us the type and number of drills that we hold throughout the school year, and we have maintained these drills even during the school construction project.

Now that we are in the new building we have drilled our staff and students and we will continue to drill them in the coming months. We have a collaborative relationship with first responders, who have been in our new facilities and they have provided input into our updated emergency management plan as stipulated by state law and the Ohio Department of Education. The Henry County Sheriff’s office has previously trained our staff using the ALICE training procedures. (ALICE is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate)

Henry County Sheriff Mike Bodenbender, Fire Chief Brian Baker, and Henry County EMA Director Tracy Bush toured our facility in late November and are aware of our new building’s design and our entrance procedures. With the added entry protocols of the new building, the location of the building offices and the available security cameras, our staff and students are safer today, than ever before. With that said, if you are not known to our office personnel, or
you do not have a scheduled appointment with school personnel, you may be refused entry to the school. Always remember to send a note on any day that you will be picking up your child for an appointment and we encourage you to please call ahead if you plan to come to school and do not have a scheduled appointment.

Additionally, I have encouraged the Sheriff and his deputies to visit our school as much as they possibly can to develop a conducive relationship with students and to make their presence known to the staff and community.

In the event of an emergency, we will utilize all media options at our disposal, including the school messenger service to relay information to parents and constituents.

Although we cannot predict that a tragedy would ever occur at our school, a key to avoiding the unthinkable, is to empower our students, staff and parents to report to the legal authorities or to school officials, any threats or behaviors that allude to harming others, in school or otherwise.

The safety of our students is of utmost concern.