In addition to helping every child be as successful as they can be, safety continues to be a top priority at Blessed Sacrament. I addressed one aspect of safety in the Weekly last week when I mentioned morning drop off routines. I'd like to re-emphasize points from last week:

1) NO U-TURNS on Chevy Chase Parkway , (it's illegal and dangerous).

2) Please have the children as ready as possible to hop out and walk into school, regardless of which side your drop off occurs.

This week things did go more smoothly and we appreciate all of the efforts of the parents. We'll continue to work with you to make the carpool as safe and efficient as possible.

Another aspect of safety involves our Child Protection Policy. The archdiocese began implementation of this policy in 2003 and I have lived and worked through every iteration of it. This summer brought some updates and changes. Effective this year, every volunteer must be fingerprinted. Background checks are no longer adequate. Parents who have volunteered under the old policy for the past few years will have to get fingerprinted to be compliant. Please understand that this inconvenience is mandated by the archdiocese and intended for the protection of the children. The letter from the superintendent about this policy is available here.

Finally, unfortunately, the violence in schools and work places continues. Hopefully we will find a sensible solution that will reduce the risk of this particularly heinous type of violence, but we must prepare for the (extremely unlikely) possibility of a violent intruder here. We continue our ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) protocol here. We are reminding the students this month of the reunification point (the library on Connecticut Avenue) if they evacuate, and we are practicing enhanced lockdowns in each of the classrooms. We will continue to educate and drill with the students throughout the year.

We've had a great start...looking forward to a great month!