School Safety Home
School Safety at MTSD
Safeguarding our students and staff members is a top priority for our school. We have protocols and procedures in place for the prevention of and response to emergency situations.
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Our campuses restrict access to and document all guests and visitors within our schools to ensure that only those with legitimate business are granted access. We control access through several measures, including:
- Use of a visitor management system (Raptor)
- Designation of a single point of entry at buildings for visitors during the school day
- Double door locked egress entrances
- Fortified entryways at all schools
- FOB access for all external doors and select internal doors
- Alarm system on select doors
- Safety bollards at key locations
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- Compartmentalized security doors
- Video surveillance on all campuses
- Easy locking classroom doors
- Emergency evacuation signage within buildings to identify exits
- Upgraded fire alarm system
- Districtwide lockdown activation system
- AED accessibility
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- External audits conducted of district safety and security processes
- National background checks conducted for criminal history and sex offender registry for all employees and volunteers
- Emergency transportation plans in place
- Local law enforcement real-time access to camera footage
- Emergency drills regularly conducted including: fire drills, lockdown, and tornado
- Wisconsin Circuit Court Access alerts for all employees and volunteers
- Communication infrastructure for alerting staff, parents, and administrators via email, SMS (text), phone
- Public Address system for alerting staff and students
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- All-hazards training for all employees implemented by a SafePlans, experts in safety and security training
- District Safety Committee meets regularly to review progress (includes internal and external stakeholders)
- FBI Active Shooter training completed with Mequon Police Department
- Dedicated school resource officer through Mequon Police Department
- Designated staff trained in first aid, AED, and CPR annually
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The Mequon Police Department assigns a full-time school resource officer to support the Mequon-Thiensville School District. The officer helps prepare our schools to handle crises by
- informing crisis planning and management systems
- developing and coordinating emergency response plans
- creating protocols for handling specific emergencies
- assisting in the facilitation of emergency response exercises
In addition, the officer not only protects our schools, he or she also works to build positive connections with students.
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Responses in emergencies are a critical part of the district’s safety efforts. Regular practice for staff and students helps ensure that best practices are followed automatically in the case of an actual emergency.
Fire Drills
- The school will conduct one fire drill each month that school is in session in keeping with fire code requirements and state statute.
Tornado/Severe Weather Drills
- The school will conduct two tornado or severe weather drills annually. Typically tornado drills will be practiced during severe weather awareness week held statewide in spring.
Lockdown Drill
- The school will conduct two lockdown drills annually. During a lockdown drill, classroom doors are secured and students remain inside the room until instructed by the teacher to resume their activities. All exterior doors are locked and no one is permitted to enter or leave the building.
- In the case of all drills, it is important for students and staff to practice what would happen in such a situation. It is also just as essential that student emotional well-being is considered. Staff members and teachers will talk with students about what to expect and what they should do during each drill using age-appropriate language. It will also be made clear that our school is a safe place and that these drills are only for practice.
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When you, a friend, or the community needs help, you can make it happen. Speak up and speak out by submitting a tip.
The Speak Up, Speak Out (SUSO) Resource Center will respond quickly and confidentially to make sure we can get help to you or to someone who is hurting, struggling, or in danger.
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Social, emotional, and counseling services can help identify individuals at risk and provide help to those who might be on their way toward causing harm to themselves or others. The district’s social emotional coaches, guidance counselors, and psychologists play different roles in supporting young people in our schools, including conducting student risk assessments.
Safety Terms
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Administrative Hold takes place during a medical situation, maintenance issue, or investigation. Regular educational activities continue, but students and teachers hold in place until further instruction is provided. Hallways are cleared.
Examples of a situation prompting an administrative hold: Individual in the building experiences a medical situation for which emergency personnel are dispatched.
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Lockdown takes place if a credible or imminent threat is identified within the building. Students and staff are locked within their current location. No educational activities take place. A move to school lockdown is reserved for a serious situation of substantiated threat.
Example of a situation prompting lockdown: Suspicious individual on campus grounds.
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Evacuation is used when students are safer outside than inside the school, as in a fire or chemical spill. An evacuation would occur in a situation of imminent threat posed by remaining in the school building.
Example of a situation prompting evacuation: Smoke or fire observed in school building.
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Reunification occurs when normal student release it is not possible because evacuation and relocation of students to an off-site shelter must be enacted. It is a controlled process where parents and/or identified emergency contacts are reunited with students after proof of identification is provided.
If reunification procedures are enacted, families of those individuals affected will be informed of pertinent details. Students will ONLY be released to parents/guardians or individuals who are documented as emergency contacts and who present a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, military ID, or passport.
Be Prepared for an Emergency
It is very important that you ensure that your child’s emergency contact information is accurate in Campus Parent (Infinite Campus). This information may be updated by a child's parent or guardian at any time in Campus Parent. Ensure that your child’s health information is accurate and updated as needed. Please contact your school office for assistance updating health records.
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- Do not call or rush to your child’s school. Telephone lines and staff are needed for emergency response efforts. Emergency personnel need clear access to buildings.
- Do not call your child. Staff and students are discouraged from using mobile phone communication for safety reasons.
- Do not call 911 for information.
- Rely on official communication from the school or public safety officials. Visit the MTSD website for the most updated information.
- Impacted families should watch for official reunification details if reunification is required.
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We are committed to keeping our school community informed of critically important matters. We work intentionally to send messages that provide clear and accurate information to our staff and families. Our goal is to provide information in a timely manner, ensuring that the information that we release is accurate.
We use multiple methods of communication. If an emergency situation should occur in any of our schools, families are encouraged to:
- Monitor email, text messages, voicemail
- Visit the district website for updates
- Visit the district’s Facebook or Instagram pages
Important to note: While we recognize that families may want detailed information regarding some situations, it is important to note that, according to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, schools are not allowed to share out with their school community specific details of an incident if it includes any personally identifiable information about a student or information that a reasonable person in the community can use to identify a specific student.
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- Listen to and acknowledge your child’s concerns.
- Provide reassurance that your child is safe.
- Seek help from school personnel or a mental health professional if needed.
Emergency Notifications
We believe that our ability to provide open and transparent communication with our parents is an important piece in maintaining that trust. To that end, we have established protocols for communication with parents in the event of an irregular situation.
To the right are descriptions and examples of responses to situations. These situations describe the communication parents may anticipate in the event of an irregular or emergency situation.
It is important that parent contact information is updated in the Infinite Campus student information system. If contact information is not updated, parents may miss important communication. Parents are asked to verify contact information during the online enrollment process. In addition, parents can update their contact preferences in their parent portal account at any time.
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An administrative hold is a situation requiring further investigation or attention. Regular educational activities continue, but students and teachers hold in place until further instruction is provided.
In an administrative hold, parents at the school affected would be notified via email regarding the situation.
Example of a situation prompting a move to an administrative hold: An armed robbery occurs at local business; suspect is at large.
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An evacuation would be occur in a situation of imminent threat posed by remaining in the school building. In an evacuation, parents at the school affected would receive prompt communication via email, SMS message (text) and phone. Parents at our other schools within the district would also receive communication via email.
Example of a situation prompting evacuation: Smoke or fire observed in school building.
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A move to school lockdown is reserved for a serious situation of substantiated threat. In a lockdown situation, parents at the school affected would receive communication via email, SMS message (text) and phone. Parents at our other schools within the district would also receive communication via email.
Example of a situation prompting lockdown: Suspicious intruder on campus grounds.
School Resource Officers
The purpose of school resource officers is to provide support and resources for school-aged children throughout the community. In this capacity, resource officers serve as educators, informal counselors, and law enforcers.
School resource officers seek to achieve the following:
- Foster positive relationships between law enforcement and school-aged children.
- Provide valuable resources to school staff members in order to maintain safe environments.
- Support and facilitate the educational process by building and establishing meaningful relationships with students and staff and proactively interacting with the school community to ensure the enforcement of City and State laws, preservation of public order, protection of life and the prevention, detection, or investigation of crime.
An agreement among the City of Mequon, Village of Thiensville, and MTSD incorporates funding from all three partners for the two officers. Both officers support district schools, along with other schools in the community.
Get to know Officers Lewis Johnson & Kirstin Studinski-Toryfter
Reporting Concerns
Often, the most critical element in school safety and security is awareness. All members of a school community, including students, staff, administrators, and families, are encouraged to let us know of anything that does not look, sound, or feel right, including situations of bullying, harassment, mental health, and safety and security concerns. Receiving tips and information allows us to investigate and take steps to prevent situations from occurring.
There are different ways for students, families, and community members to report concerns, including:
- Tell an adult (teacher, staff member, administrator).
- Complete the safety reporting form found at Speak Up Speak Out. Submissions can be made anonymously if desired.
- Contact the local police department for an immediate response if something happens outside of the school day.
We take safety and security seriously. Families, please take a moment to remind your child that making a threat is never a joke. The consequences can have a lifelong impact. School actions or discipline are based upon board policy and federal/state regulations by which schools must abide.
Talking with Children about Violence
We encourage families to conduct mental and emotional check-ins with their children. It is important to allow children to learn and process information in an age-appropriate manner, while also preventing any media messages - or measures intended to prevent and prepare students - from feeding fears. Please contact your school's social emotional staff with questions or for access to resources.
Links to aide in age-appropriate discussions about school violence:
