School Safety in our District

The safety of our students and staff has and always will be our top priority. Some of the work our District has done to ensure school safety includes:

• We conduct safety drills, including active shooter and other internal threat drills, to ensure that if we were faced with such a situation, we could act swiftly in response to such an act. Our local law enforcement and first responders are strong partners and have completed extensive training as well, including using schools for training drills.
• We partner with Tumwater Police Department and have two School Resource Officers assigned specifically to our campuses.
• Each of our schools has developed a Comprehensive Safe Schools Plan with plans for numerous crisis situations, including armed intruders.
• All building renovations are designed for school safety. In addition, we are in the process of conducting campus security reviews at each campus to identify any vulnerabilities we still need to address.
• Tip lines are being added to our website for students, parents and or community members to report information of potential violence, bullying and/or harassment. We have added a phone tipline at 360-709-7998. 
• We have implemented a Threat Assessment System for the purpose of preventing targeted violence. The appraisal of risk in a threat assessment focuses on actions, communications, and specific circumstances that might suggest that an individual is engaged in planning for an event. Each school has a team that has been trained to address concerns and assess the potential danger or safety issues in the building.
• New this year, our district formed a Critical Incident Response Team, which is a support for all schools, should a major event such as a school shooting occur at a building that requires blocking off all access to that site. The CIRT will be located at an off-site location to assist with reunification of students with their families if this is ever necessary.
• Beyond our district-funded counselors, psychologists and other social/emotional supports that are available to students, we have Community Schools Coordinators in our schools that are funded by TOGETHER! (a non-profit community partner). These coordinators are able to connect students and families with needed services, such as mental health services, that we may not be able to provide in the schools. We also have been able to partner with SeaMar to provide some additional mental health services on our campuses.
• Tumwater School District’s Position on Arming Teachers: The leadership of the Tumwater School District, including the School Board, Administration, and the Leadership of the Tumwater Education Association all strongly oppose the idea of arming teachers. Instead, the district will continue supporting the current School Resource Officer program with the Tumwater Police Department, and advocate for additional safety funding to expand these programs