Safety First

At Regents Academy we take safety seriously. We believe that you invest your trust in us to watch and protect your children during the school day and expect us to take every reasonable precaution against possible harm. Not every dangerous eventuality can be accounted for, but we strive to be diligent and fulfill our responsibility to you and your family. We ask the Lord to be merciful to us and help us to protect children faithfully to the best of our ability.

I thought it would be helpful to let you know some of the safety measures that we have in place at the school.

• Regents Academy has developed a comprehensive Safety Plan with detailed instructions for preventing dangerous situations and also for handling a variety of emergencies that might come up. Each year during Teacher Development before the start of the school year, teachers review the Safety Plan.
• There is a red safety bag in each classroom that contains a copy of the Safety Plan, a few basic first aid supplies, and (for rooms with no windows) a flashlight.
• We follow a regular drill schedule. Fire drills are conducted once per month, and the students and teachers are quite practiced at getting out of the building in the quickest and most orderly manner possible.
• During drop off and pick up, the driveway and front of the building are monitored for safety hazards, and young children are escorted to their vehicles by a staff member or parent.
• This summer the board invested several thousand dollars in improving our front entrance, widening it by 4 feet and repairing the surface. We have attempted repeatedly to have a school zone installed on the loop in front of our campus, but have been denied. However, we will keep trying, in the hope that as the school grows persistence will be rewarded.
• Most of our teachers have been certified in Heartsaver CPR training sponsored by the American Red Cross and will soon be re-certified.
• All entrances to the school remain locked during the school day, except for the front entrance, which is monitored at all times by a staff member.
• The school employs a visitor name badge system that enables staff members to quickly identify a potential intruder who has not checked in at the front desk.
• All staff members undergo a criminal background check at the time of employment. The school uses a service called Secure Search, which you can learn more about at securesearchpro.com. Beginning this school year, this service will also be used for parent volunteers who work with children.
• Teachers complete mandatory sexual abuse identification and prevention training. This training is facilitated through MinistrySafe.com and is renewed every two years.

All of these efforts are in addition to our school’s first and foremost safety feature – loving and attentive teachers who supervise and monitor students in the classroom, in the hall, at lunch, on the playground, and on the field. Teachers are trained and expected to be on the lookout for potential hazards or problems. If you have safety concerns, I am happy to hear them. Our goal is to have the safest campus that we can possibly have.