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Canton Area School District would like to share some of the security changes for the 2024-2025 school year. “We take a holistic approach to school safety that comprehensively addresses many aspects of school safety including physical security, mental health, physical preparedness, and social-emotional well being. We consider a holistic view for potential threats and vulnerabilities,” shared Dr. Amy Martell, superintendent of schools. We work together to improve school climate that supports students with a positive school climate to foster a sense of security, respect, and support. “Students learn better and improve academically when there is a climate that supports well-being.” The district is continually adapting to address new security challenges and transparently shares with the community the security upgrades to increase confidence with the community and to strengthen community relationships. In the 2024-2025 school year there will be multiple opportunities for staff development in these areas but the district will also devote one entire day of the staff in-services exclusively to school security. The District is continuing to contract with Standing Stone, Inc. for security guards for some of the after school activities. In addition to security guards, the District has contracted for a School Resource Officer with the Bradford County Sheriff’s Department. The SRO will be contracted to work the school hours of operation. Starting the school year will be Sergeant Daniel Bush. This year has started with Sergeant Daniel Bush as the school resource officer and he has been welcoming our students back to school and focused on keeping us safe. “I am excited to be in Canton and the opportunity to meet the wonderful students and staff. The district is very focused on safety and very prepared with safety protocol. It is a great culture for learning,” shared Sergeant Daniel Bush. The district has installed exterior room numbers on the windows to improve emergency response and save crucial time if an event occurred where every second counts. It helps emergency responders with situational awareness for the coordination of response and communication about specific building locations. On the other hand, it also helps maintenance staff with facility management to quickly locate specific rooms for repairs or upgrades from the exterior of the building. Mr. Darryl Jannone, Command Sergeant Major Army Retired and School Security Coordinator for the Canton Area School District explained, “While this measure alone does not prevent incidents, it is part of the comprehensive approach to school safety that focuses on improving response times and coordination during emergency situations.” The district has been adding window skins to some of the exterior doors to improve school safety as well as to foster school spirit. “The window skins are a one way window covering that are illustrated with school pride themes,” explained Mr. Donnie Jacopetti, High School Principal. “We have those on some of our exterior as well as some of our interior classroom windows. I am most excited about the large new window skin mural on the windows of the Jeffery J. Wynne Memorial Library.” These help to obscure the view into classroom spaces as well as lobbies or vestibules of our school. We have KnoxBoxes installed in the District to start the 2024-2025 school year. Each school has a KnoxBox installed to continue to fortify our safety and security posture. The Canton Fire Department purchased the KnoxBoxes for the school and they will have the ability to open the boxes in case of a fire or a potential emergency situation. Mr. Mark Jannone, Business Manager, commented, “The KnoxBoxes will allow Canton FD the ability to access the building quickly and easily. The Canton Area School District would like to send a BIG thank you to the Canton Fire Department for this purchase as well as for keeping us safe in the event of an emergency.”