School Safety
The first goal of our RSU Education Plan is to ensure Safe Learning Environments in all eleven locations in the district. RSU # 71 became an ALICE-certified school district during the 2019-2020 school year. ALICE is an acronym for "Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate" and is a methodology that empowers people to make good survival decisions should a school attack occur. Teachers and administrators received Level 1 training in 2018-2019, and academic year licenses were purchased for all employees in the school district; 95% of the staff had passed a test certifying readiness. In the 2022-2023 school year, we are doing a second round of ALICE training; currently, 41% of our staff have completed the second round of ALICE training, and our aim is for 100% of staff to be trained or retrained before the December vacation week.
The RSU 71 School Safety Task Force includes administrators, nurses, administrative assistants, secretaries, law enforcement, and the Waldo County EMA Director. We meet once a month, stewarded by our Director of Technology, Dr. Dave Fournier. School principals are conducting a variety of safety drills in our schools. In addition to fire drills, staff and students are practicing evacuation and school intruder drills, adapted to the developmental needs of elementary, middle school, and high school students.
