I wanted to share a few thoughts on school safety. Every year, it seems like our school community is faced with an incident, some larger than others, that causes us to consider safety concerns and reassess our measures in place to ensure that everyone in our school is safe.

When we have an incident it understandably shakes the confidence and sense of safety that we all have. Let me reassure you—we are a safe school.

We have over 1,200 students who come here, and daily have a safe and positive experience. While needing to address issues of school safety and security pro-actively and when they arise, we also need to remember that these incidents are exceptions, not the rule.

I have talked about this before but it is really important to stress this–there is one significant thing we can all do to increase the level of safety and security in our school.

Tell someone what you are concerned about.

If you or your friend knows of something going on, please make it a point to report your concern to the school or the district.

Call the school. Call the Safe Schools Tipline – 425-431-7010.

Send an email to one of your teachers, to your counselor or to an Administrator.

Come to the office and let someone know what you are concerned about. That is always something we learn from situations like this—someone knew that there was a concern.

We are all in this together. We spend six and a half hours a day for 180 days each school year.

If we all are willing to take step of letting someone know when we are concerned, we can significantly and positively affect the safety and security of our school community.