BK Parents and Students,
It is my pleasure to update you on just a few ways we are providing a Safe and Caring Place here at Bishop Kelly. This is not an exhaustive list, but I believe it points out some high points of what we are doing.
We take safety and security very seriously at Bishop Kelly and are constantly looking at ways to make our school the safest we can.
Thank you for your support in this effort. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mrs. Cheryl K. Hutchinson
Vice-Principal of Student Affairs
Bishop Kelly High School
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Two way communication with our community is an important part of making BK a Safe and Caring Place, and critical to the success of our school. Thank you to the over 250 parents who have taken the BK Parents Start of School Survey so far. The results of this survey will be very helpful for our weekly leadership meeting where we assess our policies and determine if we need to adjust or make changes based on our COVID-19 data and trends, community feedback, what is happening in our school, and what is happening in our broader community around COVID-19.
We would like all of our families to participate in this survey to get the most complete picture and to have statistically valid data. If you have not already done so, please fill out this short (< 5 minutes) anonymous survey to tell us how the start of school has gone for your child(ren), how you feel about our mask policy, the current vaccination status of your child(ren), and to provide you an opportunity for additional comments/questions related to your child's Bishop Kelly High School education.
The survey will remain open until the end of day on this Thursday, August 26th. Thank you again for sending your children to BK and providing us feedback!
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Relationships and Connections |
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We believe our first and foremost most important strategy to provide a safe and caring place for our students, faculty and staff is to build and foster trusting and caring relationships. It is not an accident that we have low student to teacher ratios in classrooms, low student to counselor ratios and have built in “community time” this year. Our priority is to make meaningful connections with each other and create a welcoming environment at Bishop Kelly.
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Although we are a 1:1 BYOD School, we continue to strive to find the appropriate balance of technology use during the day. For this fall, we’ve established what we feel are clearer expectations on technology use and these expectations have been communicated with all faculty, staff and students. In summary, the expectations are as follows;
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Classroom Technology Use- Laptops will be used at the discretion of the teacher. Cell phones and wearable technologies that transmit data through the internet or bluetooth are not to be used, visible or audible during academic time periods.
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Hallway Use during Passing Periods- We’ve established expectations for our hallways during passing periods similar to the rules of our highways and roadways. If students need to use cell phones during passing periods they will pull over to the side of the hallway and stop moving. Students are not to be “walking and tech-ing” during passing periods.
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Lunch- Students will be allowed to use cell phones, laptops, etc. during morning and lunch breaks, but we will continue to encourage students to “look up” and have real conversations.
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Tech Light Days Once Per Month- Every all school Mass day will be deemed a “tech light” day, which means that cell phones are not to be visible at all during the day. This includes classroom use, hallways, breaks and lunches.
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Gaggle and Smoothwall: Our filtering systems for google apps and BK internet. It alerts us of dangerous, inappropriate, or illegal activity.
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ID Badges for Faculty, Staff, Students, and Visitors |
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It is important that we know who is in our school at any given time. In addition to all faculty and staff being required to wear ID Badges daily, our students are expected to wear their student ID badges at least through the first month of school. This, more than anything, helps us get to know names quicker and build relationships. It also helps quickly identify those who are approved to be in our school and those who are not. As parents, please be reminded that if you visit during the school day, you MUST first check in at the front office, sign in as a visitor and receive a visitor badge. Even though the counseling offices have moved to the center of the school, parents still must check-in at the front desk before proceeding.
This is a closed campus, students cannot leave for lunch or any other reason, unless approved by the office first. Please do not send Door Dash or Uber Eats. Again, we don’t want strangers driving around campus looking for students. Parents are more than welcome to drop off food themselves.
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We conduct monthly drills that include: Reverse Evacuation and Hallcheck, (the threat is outside the building), Lock down (the threat is inside the building), and Evacuation (fire drills).
In regards to a lockdown drill, the goal is to have our students mentally prepared for any possible scenario. It is always a good idea to go over this at home as well:
- Locate the exits in the room.
- If you exit, always look before going out.
- If an exit is blocked, find a good place to hide and remain quiet.
- Create a barricade by the door, if you are hiding.
- Be prepared to fight.
Please feel free to watch THIS VIDEO with your child to reinforce behaviors in an emergency situation.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.
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Secondly, we conduct monthly random drug testing and quarterly drug dog searches. This random testing will pull from the total student population. We do this not because we feel we have a major drug issue, but because we want our students to have another reason to say “no” and realize drugs are not worth the risk. In all instances, parents will be notified if your student was selected for a random drug test or if a drug dog “hit” on a car, locker, or backpack.
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School Parent Partnership |
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Finally, know that you are your child’s biggest influence to keep them away from drugs and alcohol. Below are some ways to help prevent drug/alcohol use provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
Help Children and Teens Stay Drug-Free:
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Talk with your children about drugs. Explain how taking drugs can hurt their health, their friends and family, and their future. Tell them you don't want them to do drugs.
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Be a part of their lives. Spend time together. Even when times are hard, kids can make it when they know that the adults in their life care about them.
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Know where your children are and what they're doing. Keeping track of your children helps you protect them. It gives them fewer chances to get into drugs.
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Set clear rules and enforce them fairly. Kids need rules they can count on. That is how they learn for themselves what is safe and what can get them in trouble.
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Be a good example for your children. You might not think so, but kids look up to their parents. Show them how you get along with people and deal with stress, so they can learn how to do it.
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Teach your children how to refuse drugs. Kids often do drugs just to fit in with the other kids. Help them practice how to say no if someone offers them drugs.
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Make your home safe. Do not have people in the house who abuse drugs and alcohol. Keep track of medicines and cleaning products.
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A Note from our S.R.O. Detective Rawson |
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Hello BK Community,
Thank you for understanding school safety and security in regards to checking in and getting a visitor's badge. Bishop Kelly High School remains a closed campus during the school day and as such we will be looking for any non-staff members that are in the building. If you have not checked in and do not have a badge we will ask that you do so. I know many of you are known, but most are not known to all. With the ever changing world we live in I hope to continue to find the balance between an open atmosphere and school safety.
Thank you,
Detective Glen Rawson
Boise Police Department
grawson@cityofboise.org
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- Front Office: 375-6010
- Fax: 375-3626
- Business Office Manager: 947-1209
- BK Development Office: 947-1325
- BK Foundation Office: 323-4789
To add, remove, or change your email address, or to remove your name from our regular mailing lists, please contact Chrissy at cbeckner@bk.org.
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