SINCLAIRVILLE — Cassadaga Valley Central School has officially approved the District Wide Safety Plan for the 2024-25 school year.

Security Advisor Floyd Kent said the district’s safety plans involve focusing on preparedness, prevention, response and recovery for any incident that might occur on or around district property.

“We prepare by conducting evaluations and studies of safety procedures and policies within our district,” Kent said. “These come from Threat Assessments and collaboration with first responders. Prevention is obtained by training staff and students along with programs designed to educate staff and students about prevention techniques. Response is achieved by developing policies on how the district will respond to any incident it might come across. Finally, Recovery is how the district will get back to normality after an incident.”

Kent added that the world is constantly changing, causing these four aspects to have to constantly change as well. The several different safety teams and committees within the district work on these aspects, and have a different role and responsibility.

“The District Wide Safety Team is charged with making recommendations regarding the development, implementation, maintenance, and revision of the District Wide Safety Plan on a yearly basis,” Kent said. “The team is also responsible for conducting an initial school building security analysis regarding the potential for a violent incident to occur and periodically reevaluating it.”

The District Wide Safety Team’s evaluations focus on the identification and assessment of school building security hazards and different types of violent incidents including bomb threats, hostage-taking, intrusions, and kidnapping. The team then addresses necessary changes in building practices after the evaluations are completed. They are also responsible for addressing safety issues within the district, recommending actions, the dissemination of information and coordinating training programs to the Superintendent and Board of Education.

A second team is the Building-Level Emergency Response Planning Team, which is responsible for the development and yearly updating of the Building-Level emergency response plan, along with the decision-making, advising, and coordination of resources during Building-Level emergencies.

One main concern was addressed in regards to safety at the public hearing.

“Discussion regarding windows being open during school hours was a big topic,” Kent said. “The discussion on whether or not the window should be opened was turned over to the District Wide Safety Team for further discussion to develop a policy on how to handle the issue.”

Following the approval of the plan, Kent said monthly meetings will continue in order to discuss changes and make updates to the plan in hopes to “make Cassadaga Valley the safest school in the area.” Additionally, he said they will practice tabletop drills where they discuss risks and responses to help make sure the team is ready for any situation.

“The safety of the students is the utmost importance of the district,” Kent said. “We strive to ensure we are the safest school in the area. The response plans we have created ensure everyone will be safe and our plans also collaborate with all first responders policies.”

Kent said all of the safety plans for the district take time to create, and that everyone involved across the district is able to and has a responsibility to help.

“The amount of time invested in creating these plans is astronomical and not an easy task,” Kent said. “It takes everyone to give a little towards the safety of our district. For example, when you enter or leave the school, make sure the door latches shut behind you. Nobody has ever entered a school to conduct harm via a locked door, only an unsecure door. The simple things are sometimes the most important.”