Dear Parents,

In light of the local and national events that have taken place during the last seven days, we want to share with you HPISD’s standard safety protocols and the several measures taken in recent years in HPISD schools to make schools safer, including at Bradfield Elementary.

Nine years ago, HPISD hired Chief Mark Rowden to establish and lead an internal police department. The district, in partnership with the City of University Park and the Town of Highland Park, also employs a full-time trained and well-equipped officer at each school.

HPISD utilizes and follows a Safety and Emergency Communications Plan, developed by administrators and local law enforcement, and constantly shares information with officers from the Town of Highland Park, the City of University Park, SMU, the Dallas Police Department and federal partners including the Joint Terrorism Task Force. These strong partnerships allow HPISD to access additional safety resources when needed.

Additionally, HPISD follows several safety protocols including:

• daily checks of all exterior doors to ensure they are properly secured
• visitor sign-in and sign-out procedures include scanning a valid driver's license into a system that conducts a criminal background check
• access control systems at entry points of every school
• annual safety drills for various situations that follow Standard Response Protocols recommended by the Texas School Safety Center
• intercom systems within the schools
• camera monitoring systems
• online reporting systems for students, staff, parents and community members to submit concerns

More safety information can be found here. The Student Code of Conduct and campus handbooks also have sections on safety and security, and can be found here.

We also want to provide you with some strategies for talking with your children at home about events and highlighting the support available to students on our campus. When local and national events like Arlington Lamar last week and Nashville, TN yesterday happen, school-aged children can have different reactions to hearing news information or learning about the impact on someone they know. Our Bradfield counselor, Janet Adams is on campus to support your child. Please reach out if you feel your child might need some extra care this week. Some strategies used by counselors who support students during times of crisis can also be helpful to parents at home. Strategies to use when talking to children include:

• Don’t be afraid to talk with your child.  Be open, honest, clear and accurate. You should be the healthy filter of information for your child as you answer questions with age-appropriate responses.
• Find out what your child thinks and feels.  An important first step in talking with your child is to find out what they have heard and how they feel. Young children often make false assumptions about the causes of major events. Often these distortions can magnify his or her sense of fear. Correct their misperceptions with simple, age-appropriate explanations.
• Take your child’s lead on when, what and how much to say.  After you understand what your child knows and how they feel, gauge your answers to their concerns. You do not need to be too detailed or comprehensive. In fact, you may find that the child just acts disinterested or seems to ignore what you are saying.  If you let the child control when you discuss this – directed by their questions – you will find that you may have many short discussions and not one “big” talk.  These little discussions make it easier for the child to process information.  
• Don’t feel that you have to have all the answers.  Some aspects of an event can remain beyond understanding.  You can explain that you just don’t know – and that sometimes we will never know why some things happen. If your child sees that you struggle to make sense of this, their struggle becomes easier.  And when they see you continue to be a solid and caring parent – even when you don’t have the answers - they actually feel safer. The unknown becomes a less frightening thing. 
• Reassure your child. Reassure your child. Your home and community are safe. Steps are being taken to make things safer.  

Sincerely,

Regina Dumar

Bradfield Principal