Dear Thompson School District Students, Parents, Staff and Community Members,
I hope the beginning of the new academic year has gone well for you. We were so excited to welcome students back into the buildings and we are looking forward to an amazing 2019-2020 school year.
A critical priority of ours is to ensure physical and emotional safety for each of our students, staff, and families. To assist with this effort, TSD has created a three-pronged approach.
First, our generous taxpayers have entrusted us with bond dollars to support additional learning space and help keep students physically safe. Second, additional resources are helping ensure increased access to safe schools through the hiring of positions to support the social and emotional learning needs of our students. Third, a prominent focus area of our district’s “Strive 2025” Strategic Plan is the importance of an inclusive and supportive culture. That focus area features plans to ensure that all students, staff and family members are guaranteed safe and inclusive learning environments.
While our plans are strong, we know that your children have likely heard about tragic incidents around our world and in our country over the past several months that have targeted diverse groups of people based on race, religion and national origin. Please take time to listen to your children when they express concerns or worries about a lack of safety. Encourage your children to speak up and let us know if there is any unsafe or unacceptable behavior happening in their school, especially behavior that targets students based on any aspect of their cultural diversity. Invite them to speak with a trusted adult at home or school, such as a teacher, school counselor, school resource officer or principal.
An additional tool that may assist them is “Safe2Tell,” an anonymous resource that allows students and families to report bullying, harassment and other safety and security concerns. For more information and to access the service, please visit safe2tell.org. Each tip that is submitted via the program is investigated by officials in a timely manner.
For more information on the steps TSD has taken to help ensure safety throughout our district, and to view a list of useful resources, please visit thompsonschools.org/safety.
In addition, TSD’s Board of Education has adopted a policy that governs bullying prevention and education. The policy and the associated regulations can be viewed by clicking HERE and HERE.
Thank you again for your support of all of our students and families.
Sincerely,
Dr. Marc Schaffer
Superintendent
Thompson School District