VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 5
APRIL, 2017
Focus On Plain Safety Summer School Offerings Pages 10 & 11
YMCA to Host Summer Day Camp at GOHS
Details on page 12
Plain Local Students Shave for a Cause Story on page 18
Food Donations Needed Details on page 19
Where has this school year gone? It is hard to believe that we are closing in on another successful school year. I would like to thank our community for your support and guidance this year. A school district is only as strong as the support from the community, and our students and staff are fortunate to have such a dedicated community. One area that we have focused on this year is safety across the district. As a father of three, I want my children to be safe and supported by the entire staff in Plain Local. Safety is always on my mind as Superintendent and a father. Each day we hear about tragic situations in our world that cause all of us to pause and really evaluate our safety. Below I have outlined steps that we have taken this year to ensure your child is safe when they enter a school building. I can assure you that the topic of safety is discussed each and every day in Plain Local. You will see below that we have taken many steps and we continue to look for additional ways to ensure the safety of 6,000 students and 600 staff members in the Plain Local School District. Safety Measures: • Installed blue strobe lights on the outside of each building to indicate an emergency. If these lights are activated, busses will not release students from their bus and the building would immediately enter into a lockdown. A prerecorded message begins immediately indicating to anyone outside of the school building to leave the property. • Installed additional security cameras at each building. • Installed a buzzer system at each building entrance for anyone asking to enter the building. There is also a camera that allows building staff to see anyone entering a building before the door is unlocked. • Secured two additional part-time School Resource Officers at Glenwood Intermediate and Oakwood Middle School through our collaboration with the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. • Mandated that any staff member working in our school buildings must wear a recognized Plain Local identification badge. • Implemented a software program called Navigate. This program allows school personnel to access every building’s safety plan along with all relevant information from any device at any time. • Implemented regularly scheduled First Responder meetings during the school year to review and evaluate how law enforcement and school personnel will work together during a crisis situation. • Trained law enforcement and fire and safety staff. • Trained all staff members in ALICE. As you can see many new measures have been implemented. The team in Plain Local will continue to look for new ways and ideas to ensure the safety across the school district. I appreciate your support with this important topic.
Go Eagles!
Brent May, Superintendent
Don’t miss the 11th Annual GEAA Athletic Auction More on page 20
GO Academic Challenge Team Takes TV Show On March 19, GlenOak, as represented by (Pictured left to right) Philip Kaufholz, Paige Hamsher and Ian Hembree competed on the WEWS-TV5 show “Academic Challenge” and defeated both Hoover and Hudson. The air date is Saturday, May 20th, at 7 p.m.