Mock Drill

Last week we had a mock drill that involved the middle school.  The purpose of all of our drills is to practice and, also, to find out where we might have gaps in our training: students, staff and police.  The scenario went like this:  an "intruder" entered the building and refused to stop at the office; the office staff called a 'lock-down' and also called the police.  They then called the SAU office to notify us of the situation.

Until we knew what was happening, a lock-down was called for both the high school and elementary school.  The police came and "captured" the suspect, and the students and staff were evacuated to the high school.  In the meantime, it was determined safe to call off the lock-down at the other two schools.

I am so proud of our students.  I entered the high school gym and they were quiet and orderly while they waited for further instructions.  Many had to use the restrooms and did so by quietly waiting in line.  We had parents who volunteered to be a part of this so that we could practice reuniting them with their children (thank you to the parents!).  We had observers in all areas to note what was happening so that we could review this information following the drill.

We found out some areas where we need to our continue training, but we also had a chance to work on our plan for reuniting students safely with their parents, practiced an evacuation, and the police were able to check their responses and training, too  This entire process took just a little over two hours to complete- including evacuating the students to the high school, returning them to the middle school and accounting for every student and staff member!

We will continue to have drills in our schools for the safety of everyone and will continue our cooperation with the Raymond Police Department.  Thank you to everyone who helped out or took part in our safety drill.

Sharing Resources Between the Raymond School District and Town of Raymond

 Recently, the School Board and the Board of Selectmen held a joint meeting to discuss how to set priorities for the needs of our schools and our town.  It was decided to put together a committee made up of Board members from each Board plus citizens and parents to discuss options and come up with a viable plan for all the townspeople.  I hope some of you will consider joining this important committee.  If you would like to be considered for this committee, please read the following notice:



School Board Invites Letters of Interest for the Shared Resources Committee

The Raymond School Board and the Raymond Board of Selectmen are joining to form a Shared Resources Committee.  This committee will be reviewing expenditures and possible options for combining resources of the Town and the District.  It will be comprised of representatives from the School Board, the Board of Selectmen, the Town, the District, parents, and community members.  The first meeting of this committee will be Thursday, April 20th at 7:00 PM.

Both the School Board and the Board of Selectmen will each be appointing two members of the public to serve on this committee.  As such, the School Board invites you to submit a letter of interest to be one of their appointed members. They will be appointing one parent and one community member at their April 19th School Board meeting.  

Please submit letters of interest by 12:00 PM on Wednesday, April 19th, via email, mail, or fax, to:

Raymond School Board

Jennifer Heywood

Raymond School District

43 Harriman Hill Road

Raymond, NH 03077

Fax 603-895-0147

j.heywood@sau33.com

Observations......

It occurs to me, every now and then, that, at various times, the same rules of behavior don't apply to everyone. There's the speeder who justifies this with being late for work, school, grocery shopping, whatever. There's the person who lets their dog out late at night so they won't have to pick up after their pet (but the neighbors do). There's the late-comer who comes to every meeting, dinner date, party, late (and "just can't help it").  There are those who postpone doing almost everything: calling an elderly relative, painting the living room (me), handing in work assignments, cutting out junk food, stacking wood, and so on (naturally, with good reasons).  How about the person who brings 30 items to the '14 or fewer' line at the grocery store?  I guess the top of the heap is the person who wriggles out of every situation with an excuse or denies responsibility:  "I was sick", "my dog threw up on the carpet", "someone else lost it", "no one told me how to do it", and, of course, "it wasn't me".  This person will continue their fiction even when proven wrong and will rarely admit they did something wrong.  Sometimes, all of these can be one person.

The other day, my husband mispronounced a name he saw in the paper.  He was telling me about an issue and showed me a picture of a politician.  He drew out the name in a cartoon-like voice. Our 4 year old granddaughter immediately imitated him and kept going around the house saying the name over and over- in the same cartoonish voice.   I think she thought we were making fun of the name, the person, or the situation and I had to tell her this wasn't so.  (I had images of her doing this using the names of her friends at school.) Of course, she was confused.

Unconsciously, we confuse young people all the time - we tell them one thing (follow the rules, respect others, don't get in trouble, do your homework, be on time for school, be nice to others) but our actions say something entirely different.