In regard to the recent tragedy at The Covenant School in Nashville, the Dayton Public School District would like to remind families about the dozens of measures in place each and every day to protect students and staff. 

These measures are constantly evaluated to ensure schools remain a safe and orderly environment where all students can learn, grow and thrive. 

Please remember that everyone can contribute to making schools safer by staying vigilant. If you see something suspicious or have any concerns about the safety of staff and students, please report the concerns to the school or district immediately. Reports can also be made anonymously to the Safer Ohio School Tip Line by calling or texting 844-SaferOH (844-723-3764). 

The safety of all students and staff is the district’s utmost priority. Although the below list is not exhaustive, these are several key safety precautions in place to protect all Dayton Public Schools.

Building Security Measures

• Doors are secured and either require swipe access using a DPS badge, or for a visitor to be buzzed into the building. 
  • Exterior doors are equipped with a doorbell camera to allow the front office to see those coming into the building. 
  • All school vestibules are “secondary secured,” meaning all visitors must be buzzed into the main office or into the school after entering the main exterior doors. 
  • At high schools, certain exterior doors are open but still require all individuals to be buzzed into the office. No one can enter the school building if they do not have a badge or are let inside by an employee.
• All visitors must sign in and out of buildings so there is a running log of everyone who entered on a given day. 
• All buildings are equipped with emergency buttons in the event of a critical situation. 
• There are surveillance cameras in all buildings.
• All schools are equipped with metal detectors.  The expectation is all students must walk through the metal detectors and have any bags checked daily before school begins. No weapons of any kind are permitted on any DPS properties. 

Personnel

• There are Security Resource Officers in every building every day.
• SROs take time to form meaningful relationships with students, which allows students to feel comfortable going to their SRO to share any concerns. 
• FBI/BCI background checks are performed on all employees and volunteers, and are performed again every 3-5 years. 
• When staffing allows, Dayton Police and the Sheriff’s Office are present at district events.

Training & Drills

• All DPS employees are required to have A.L.I.C.E. training (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate), which is considered the current best practice for schools. 
• All buildings conduct emergency evacuation drills to teach students and staff where to go in the event of an emergency. All buildings also have on-site and off-site reunification locations in the event that students cannot go back into the building and parents must pick them up elsewhere. 
• Schools are required to do lockdown drills, in which students are taught the A.L.I.C.E. method. 
• The district has implemented a Critical Incident Response Guide, along with building-specific emergency operations plans. These plans are updated annually and evaluated by the state every 3 years. 

Additional Measures:

• Each building has a Behavior Threat Assessment Team that watches for behavior that might indicate a student needs additional support. That team then implements measures to help and support the student. The Behavior Threat Assessment Team does not implement punitive measures. When supports are successful, they follow a student if/when they leave the school. 
• The Safer Ohio School Tip Line is a free safety resource available to all Ohio schools. The tip line is an anonymous reporting system that accepts both calls and texts 24/7. Students, staff or parents can call or text 844-SaferOH (844-723-3764) to anonymously report anything they find suspicious or concerning, such as bullying, unusual or suspicious behavior, school safety concerns, etc. More information about this tip line is available on the DPS website.