School safety is very important to have knowledge about. In case of an emergency, students, teachers and parents should know where they need to go, or what they need to do to stay safe.

Imagine Prep Surprise Principal, Chris McComb discussed the need for clear and effective emergency procedures for our campus.

“The school has a large array of school safety plans that we review during pre-service and at other various points of the year. Aside from fire drills, lockdown drills, and evacuation drills, we cover topics like child abuse, death/suicide, accident/injury, abduction/missing persons, blood borne pathogens, and bomb threats. We also offer First Aid and CPR training for staff at the beginning of the year,” McComb said. 

McComb went over what has been done to make students feel welcome and make parents feel safe with their kids going to Imagine Prep. 

“My biggest priority in terms of students and parents feeling safe is working to build a culture that supports relationship building,” McComb said. “If we work towards that, we can build trust and open communication to learn about how to support students, parents, and faculty who may be hurting or need support.”

McComb shared that in order to create an environment that feels safe for everyone, there has to be a strong sense of community.

“I personally think a strong culture is the #1 element in ensuring everyone’s safety because we are able to know about and meet the many needs of the community,” McComb said.

On Tuesday, Nov. 30, four students were killed and seven others were injured when a teen opened fire in his school in Oxford, MI. McComb said this recent school tragedy led to teachers reviewing the plans and policies for emergency events.

“In the wake of the Oxford shooting our staff reviewed some of our safety procedures and students can expect to see a few lock down drills when we return in January,” McComb said. “A few years back, we also installed extra remote locks on the front office doors and some of the other exterior doors and required all visitors to buzz in at the front office. We also have a pretty extensive camera setup that allows us to have eyes on much of the building.”

McComb also went over some requirements of school drills. 

“We conduct monthly fire drills as required per the state, but I would like to see us conduct more lock down drills. We also do an annual school evacuation drill in the winter.”