Natomas Unified Parents and Community,
Reading and watching the news from the Florida tragedy, I felt the need to reach out to all of you. All my love and prayers go out to the victims, their families and friends. As a parent myself, this senseless shooting of innocent children leaves me angry and deeply saddened. We grieve together as a community, but as we do, I want to stress the importance of identifying troubled individuals and understanding what supports NUSD offers to intervene and assist before they become a danger to themselves or others.
As is often the case, it appears there were warning signs before the Florida school attack. Please take this opportunity to talk with your children about the importance of reporting signs of severe depression, anxiety, talk of violence or suicide, or any other suspicious or concerning activity that they see, hear, or they read on social media. NUSD offers a continuum of social-emotional supports to assess and respond to mental health issues before crisis.
You may not know NUSD has an emergency response team of mental health professionals available at any time of the day or night, seven days a week, to respond to life-threatening situations. Confidential referrals for social-emotional support can be filed online, at any time, and NUSD responds to reports of troubled youth made by telephone on weekdays or, in emergency situations, at night or on weekends. And starting last year we expanded staffing by assigning a psychologist at every campus.
Here’s how to report concerns:
· With the push of a button, you can file an online referral form for social-emotional supports here.
· Incidents of bullying can be reported, at any time, by clicking here.
· Buttons for both the social-emotional form and the bullying form can be found on the homepage of NUSD’s district website at www.natomasunified.org
· You can always discuss concerns with the principal of your student’s school, or you’re welcome to call Student Services and Safety at (916) 567-5434.
· NUSD’s Constituent and Customer Services also is available online or by phone at (916) 561-5253. For after-hour emergencies, that number can be used as well.
Often children, and even adults, need to express their anxieties about tragedies like Wednesday’s attack on the Florida high school. Encourage your loved ones to do that. Here are tips from the National Association of School Psychologists to help you talk with your kids about violence and to help them feel more secure.
Nothing is more important than the safety of students and staff. Among other things, we contract with School Resource Officers, who are sworn police officers, to monitor and to respond to campus concerns. We also train personnel at each school in emergency response, and we practice lockdown drills with students. As we hug our kids a little tighter in the wake of Florida’s tragedy, let’s continue working together as a community to enhance school safety and nip potential problems in the bud.
Superintendent Chris Evans
