Dear Hudson, Passaic, Paterson and Bergen Parents of the iLearn Schools,
Once again a school shooting has occurred in the United States. As you no doubt have seen, 17 people were gunned down in Florida. iLearn CEO Mr. Guvercin and I spoke about the continued efforts all members of the iLearn staff at each campus are doing to maintain a safe and secure school environment. The details continue to unfold, and as they do, we will review and recommend adjustments to our operations.
As we have tracked this incident and the many other school shooting incidents this year, we analyze each to determine if we can do better to protect our schools and develop new plans and protocols to address each emerging threat. You can be part of our success by communicating with your child about their feelings and any issues they may be having, then sharing them with our professionals- we are here to help! Additionally, any information relevant to security at our schools should be immediately shared with us.
Many questions arise when a tragic event like this occurs. One report said the gunman shot the students as they evacuated after pulling the fire alarm. This turned out not to be the case. The shooter gained access to the school (not sure how at this writing) and began shooting in each classroom. The smoke from the shooting caused the fire alarm to go off. He went to the 2nd floor and shot another victim before leaving the weapon and exiting the school, mixing in with students evacuating. He was subsequently caught by police in a nearby neighborhood.
It should be noted that there was an armed officer on the school grounds at the time of the shooting who never had the opportunity to engage the shooter.
Parents, these are scary and dangerous incidents but we want you to know that we have a diligent team of security professionals made up of retired law enforcement and military and staff who constantly update our procedures and review security protocol best practices for possible implementation at our campuses.
This is a national tragedy and we mourn the victims and share our condolences to the families affected. But together we can minimize these threats by communicating, working together, and continuing to enhance the security we have by learning from these terrible incidents.
Sincerely,
Leo P. McGuire, MBA
Sheriff (ret)
Director of Risk Management, iLearnSchools