Keep Kids Safe

The Lower Merion School District works with local law enforcement and mental health organizations to support the physical and emotional health and safety of our students.

Our District believes protecting students is a responsibility shared by students themselves, by staff and by the community. Anyone who becomes aware of a threat or concern about student safety is urged to report that concern to Lower Merion Township Police, the Safe2Say Something anonymous reporting system or the LMSD Reporting Form.

Some of the current safety precautions in place in our schools are:

Physical Safety and Training

• Annual review of safety protocols for all staff, as well as twice yearly lockdown drills and fire drills, so students and staff are familiar with how to respond in an emergency.
• Single points of entry to all buildings during the school day. Security guards stationed at these entrances check IDs and control building access.
• Alertus System, which calls law enforcement, alerts staff via their computers and announcements, and activates strobes outside schools to warn bus drivers and parents/guardians not to drop students off during an emergency.
• Ongoing collaboration with Lower Merion Township Police, who have keys to all school buildings, along with the codes and locations of lockboxes to access interior master keys. They also have school maps and run rapid deployment drills, along with Narberth Ambulance, inside the schools.
  • (For more information, watch the video here with Ofc. Daren Swain)
• Thumb locks that can be quickly locked from the inside, as well as a secondary locking system that staff can activate, to prevent breaches of classroom doors.
• More than 1000 cameras located inside and outside LMSD buildings. These cameras are monitored by the security guards.
  • (For more information, watch the video here with Dennis Witt)
• Alarms added to exterior doors to alert the guards if a door has been forced or held open. If these alarms are triggered, security guards notify a custodian or campus aide, or will go themselves, to investigate.
• All-call system that enables any staff member to notify the entire building and office staff to start a lockdown process and trigger the Alertus system.

School Culture and Responsive Measures

• Staff, including campus aides at high schools, who work every day to build belonging by developing relationships with each student.
• Informing students of the Safe2Say Something anonymous tipline and LMSD Reporting Form.
• District staff trained in Restorative Practices and the PREPaRE model.
• District Crisis Response Teams consisting of staff trained in responding to atypical events and in meeting the needs of students and staff during school emergencies
• Mental Health Supports
  • (For more information, watch the video here with Dr. Lauren Walker)
• Investigating potential threats using the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) process.
  • (For more information, watch the video here with Kimberly Fraser)

Below, you’ll find a series of videos co-produced by LMSD and Lower Merion Township as part of our cooperative Keep Kids Safe initiative, which began with a Family Information Night in June 2023. There, information was shared on topics such as internet and social media safety and monitoring; mental health crisis support; healthy activities at local libraries and parks; and when and how law enforcement should be called with concerns.

That event was followed at the start of the 2023-2024 school year with the implementation of LMSD’s Off and Away program, which provides guidance to students, staff and families about device usage in our schools.

SCHOOL DISTRICT AND TOWNSHIP PARTNER FOR "SCHOOL'S OUT" FAMILY INFORMATION NIGHT

On Monday, June 12, 2023, Lower Merion School District and Lower Merion Township partnered on an event designed to provide families with helpful information and resources they might find useful during the summer months, when students' school routine is disrupted.

After a welcome from Acting Superintendent Megan E. Shafer, the panel members addressed topics such as device and social media management, potential interactions with law enforcement, addressing mental health concerns, and wholesome summer activities. Panelists were:

• Jen Goldberg, LMSD Elementary Technology Specialist
• George Frazier, LMSD Directof of Information Systems
• Joe Hunsicker, John Mick and Jim Batinger, Lower Merion Township Police
• Christopher Hall, Welsh Valley Middle School Principal
• Dr. Adil Nure, LMSD Lead Supervisor of Clinical Services and Gifted Education
• Moira Tumelty, Montgomery County Mobile Crisis
• Donna Heller, Lower Merion Township Director of Parks and Recreation
• Dawnita Brown, Lower Merion Township Library System, Ardmore Children's Librarian

You can view the video of the event here!