Above: In this 2024 photo, Father Cliff Auth, pastor of Immaculate Conception in Fayetteville and St. Ann’s in Manlius, stopped into the Kindergarten classroom at IC School to share a story about dogs with the students.
By Amy Sansone
Superintendent of Catholic Schools
Amy Sansone
It was with great sadness that we heard of the tragedy at Annunciation School and Parish on August 27th. When speaking with a local news reporter that afternoon, I was asked, “Is safety a concern for our school communities?” My answer was, “It is our number one concern.”
We take as our most critical and paramount concern the safety of our students — physical, as well as emotional. If a student does not feel safe — if they are worried about the physical environment at home or school, a recent traumatic event, or any of a thousand other concerns — they literally are not able to learn. We most definitely address safety every day, in a wide variety of ways.
When addressing physical safety in our schools, we examine a variety of concerns — those caused by a threat originating outside of the building, which could be human or meteorological in nature, or something within the building itself, most likely pertaining to good maintenance and upkeep of the facilities. Our schools proudly adhere to all New York State laws pertaining to school health and safety. Our students regularly participate in a wide variety of drills: fire drills, lockdowns, lock-outs, hold-in-place, shelter-in-place, evacuations, and more. Similar to the simple fire drills experienced when we were young — it is critical that student actions during these drills are automatic. We view these drills as normal precautions, similar to how naturally we all put on a safety belt upon entering a car.
In addition to these commonplace student activities as part of our safety plans, there are a variety of physical precautions that all schools take each and every day. All school buildings maintain locked entrances with secured remote buzzer systems of entry. They are all annually inspected to ensure such systems are in place and well-maintained; this also pertains to fire safety, boiler inspections, AEDs, and more. Given the wide variety of physical structures in which our classes occur, from buildings over 100 years old, to some much younger, from single-story buildings to those with three levels or more, from schools surrounded by acres of grassy fields to others bordered by swathes of asphalt, there are a wide variety of ways and means of making each and every building secure. Every community has very specific needs. I encourage you, that if you have a specific question pertaining to safety in your school, please reach out to the building principal and engage in a conversation. You will be comforted by the plans in place, the precautions maintained, and the care and thought each school directs towards this topic.
We are also always eager to learn and grow. Our schools regularly have audits conducted by local law enforcement or private security companies. These exercises always result in a new idea or area to look at more closely. We encourage you to also advocate for increased funding of school safety programs via your elected NYS and federal legislators. Sign up for the Action Center alerts via the Catholic Conference for relevant communications on this topic and others.
Lastly, to the families who entrust us with their children each and every day — we would like to express our sincere gratitude. We take the responsibility of educating your children, while keeping them safe, extremely seriously. Thank you for your trust.
