The fredericktown r-1 school district in madison county missouri, in coordination with the fredericktown police department, city of fredericktown, madison county emergency management team and…

The fredericktown r-1 school district in madison county missouri, in coordination with the fredericktown police department, city of fredericktown, madison county emergency management team and madison county chamber of commerce have partnered to develop the 2023 safe and responsible blackcats initiative. Key partners in this project include parents, students, staff, community members, local emergency team members and local businesses. The purpose of this project is to further develop safety measures that will protect our school district students and staff from possible acts of violence. The fredericktown school district in madison county missouri serves approximately 2000 students and employs 286 staff members. Most of the time, the local PD will have 3 members on duty, the sheriffs office, 2-3 deputies on duty and the local highway patrol may have one within response range. There is much concern on the response time for our local law enforcement. Our school district is approximately 498 square miles and at any given time, one of our officers on duty may be 20 minutes or more away. Improving safety efforts at district campuses may mitigate the possibility of violent activity. This project includes improving safety measures at our campus entrances, including secured vestibules to monitor visitors. This project proposes continued funding for online management systems for visitor entry as well as tracking students as they leave and enter campus. This project includes improving campus lighting, to help deter violent activity during after-hours events. The project includes upgrades of camera systems, secured entry, and motion detectors. This project includes the purchasing of classroom ballistic shelters for our most vulnerable student and staff populations at our preschool. This project also includes intruder training for our sros and local law enforcement to improve coordination between all local agencies in the event of a violent intrusion. The fredericktown r-1 school district considers this project crucial to the goal of ensuring the safety of the staff and students who attend our school in our county. Our desired outcome is to create a safe environment where the focus can be on learning, while anxiety and fear can be diminished.