Kyrene has a number of proactive measures in place to ensure the safety and security at all of our schools. Some of these include:

• During the school day all exterior doors to a school building are locked. The only point of entry into our schools is through the school offices.
• All of our schools have a virtual video fence where cameras operate 24 hours a day and act as a deterrent for unauthorized activity.
• All schools follow a comprehensive crisis plan and practice lockdown and fire drills on a regular schedule.
• When a school calls a lockdown, even District badges will not open an exterior door. Crisis personnel at the District office are automatically contacted.
• We regularly review our crisis plans and work closely with all local emergency agencies.

Front office procedures

We have recently received many suggestions from community and staff members about ideas to improve campus safety. All practices have been reviewed and some new procedures were implemented.

As you’ll recall, over the past several years, through our voter-approved bonds and overrides, we have made security improvements that not all other districts currently have in place. The most noticeable examples are the elimination of free-standing portable classrooms, the enclosure of all outside door access to classrooms (corridor project), and the virtual video fence at all schools where cameras operate 24 hours a day to act as a deterrent for unauthorized activity. It is also important for you to know that for many years our schools have followed a comprehensive crisis plan which requires documented practice lockdown and fire drills on a regular schedule. District-wide crisis plans are reviewed frequently by a District Crisis Team that works closely with all local law enforcement and municipal emergency agencies.

In order to provide additional security for our students and staff:

• All visitors will be required to check in at the front desk.

• All visitors will need to turn in a photo I.D. and be issued a visitor’s badge.

• Employees and vendors must show their badge or will be required to follow the visitor’s procedure.

• Visitors will not be allowed beyond the office doors without signing in, providing a photo ID, getting a visitor’s badge and

  given permission to enter the school.

• When leaving the school, visitors will return through the office, sign out and retrieve their photo I.D.