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As both a PPS substitute teacher and a parent of a PPS student, I have some observations regarding school safety.

Some(but not all!)teachers count heads during attendance and throughout the day.However there are times when students fall through the cracks. One of these times is during lunch and recess transitions. It is often not the child's teacher who takes the class from the lunchroom to the playground. Teachers often leave their classes with lunchroom monitors so they can return to their rooms to eat and prepare for the afternoon. Do monitors have a headcount for each class? The answer to that question is usually NO! Monitors or principals often take groups out to recess. Sometimes students have left the cafeteria to use the bathroom or for some other reason. These students are left behind and unaccounted for for an indefinite period of time. I don’t want to think about what might happen if there was a fire in the building.Students are also locked out of the school because the teacher didn’t notice that they were not with the rest of the class.

Many students participate in classes outside of their homeroom(P.E., Library, Special Ed, ESL etc.) These teachers often do not take roll or have an attendance sheet. There is definitely the possibility of students being unaccounted for during these times. I have also noticed that Special Ed teachers often do not check on students who don't arrive for pull out classes.

 Suggestions for PPS:

Teachers, it is your responsibility to carry around a head count of students and check periodically to be certain that you are not missing anyone.

Students should only be allowed to leave the classroom with a buddy.

Lunchroom monitors as well as other staff who care for students in place of their regular teachers(special ed, ESL,P.E., music, etc.) should always have a copy of that day’s attendance list and should take roll when the students are delivered to them. In the morning, the school secretary could make copies of class lists when they are delivered to the school office after attendance is taken and all staff would be responsible for picking up this attendance sheet for the class that they would be working with on that day.

When teachers take students back to classroom, they should line them up and count them before they go back into the building and again once they return to the classroom.

posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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