<div dir="ltr"><div>Codie,</div><div><br></div><div>After reading your first paragraph, I immediately began to think about how school safety is most certainly part of a rational system, as you discussed. Initially, school safety plans are developed without much teacher input, usually involving a top-down approach that incorporates state-mandated drills and several rigid, schoolwide procedures, which categorize the system as a rational one, which you described in your opening paragraph. Safety plans necessitate being rational; without set expectations and consistency in implementation, the plan would undoubtedly fail. With this in mind, though, one may see how a school’s safety system will likely, and ideally, evolve to include components of both natural and open systems as well. </div><div><br></div><div>To begin, safety plans should grow to incorporate natural components so that staff members feel safe and that their voices are heard. For example, last year, my school held an active shooter training; while at first, teachers and students were simply directed to follow the crisis plan that was put in place, after the training, teachers were debriefed and given the opportunity to share feedback with administrators in order to improve the safety plan. Because the teachers had a voice, they were able to feel valued, respected, and above all, safe, which are three aspects of a natural system. </div><div><br></div><div>The third type of system, an open system, is critical when devising school safety plans. As previously mentioned, there are some safety guidelines that are handed down from the state level, yet there are many local agencies that can provide vital information to ensure school safety. Again during my school’s active shooter training, the school partnered with the Chillicothe Police Department, and the school safety plan was created through collaboration between school administration and local law enforcement. At the training, CPD officers entered the school and participated as both law enforcement and acted in the role of perpetrator, and during the debriefing, they offered feedback and suggestions for improvement so that the school safety plan could be revised to be as thorough as possible. School safety should be the chief priority for schools, and, as many of our peers have noted, when all three systems--rational, natural, and open--are integrated seamlessly, the results are often much more successful than times when only one system is implemented. While I hope that we never have to implement the school’s crisis plan in the event of an actual emergency, I feel much more confident in knowing that administrators, teachers, and outside resources have all had a part in constructing the plan. </div><div><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Thank you for your response!</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Jessica Orr </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 8, 2018 at 9:01 PM, James Ward <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gl_jward@seovec.org" target="_blank">gl_jward@seovec.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When I look around at my district
and school as a whole, I can identify rational, natural and open/social
systems. In a rational system, all individuals involved are working towards the
same goal without regard to the personal interests of its workforce. One area
that my school displays a rational system is through the safety procedures for fires,
tornados and lockdown drills. My school has specific guidelines on how teachers
are to get the students from the areas they are currently at to the safest
place possible. We as staff members are responsible to these guidelines and are
to follow them to the best of our abilities because that is what has been put
in to place by our district and principal. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In regards to a natural system in
my school, we have in place reading and math committees. These committees, while
wanting to see all students grow, also have very different goals in mind. The
reading and math committees were set up this past year by our building
principal and building leadership team (BLT). The aim of the committees are to
bring the deficiencies that we observe our kids come to us with, and then
coming up with ways to address those weaknesses as a group. We are not under
the thumb of an administrator or the district to do what they feel is best, but
our committees are given freedom as a group to come up with different strategies
that we feel are best to help solve the deficiencies we are observing. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For me to see an open/social system
in action, I believe that I have to look no farther than any public school
district in the country. The districts are given money via tax payer or
community businesses to hire the needed staff (teachers, cooks, custodians,
principals, etc.). Students are then brought to us beginning in kindergarten and
some as early as pre-school. Through standards and curriculum that is given to
teachers by the school district, teachers are then expected to help the
students reach their maximum potential until their set graduation date. After
graduation students are expected to be able to go out and be a productive
individual to society through the workforce, or advance to college, hopefully
obtaining a degree, and then coming out as a contributing member to society. <span></span></p>
<br></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font color="#000000">T<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">hank you,</font></font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000"><br></font></div><b style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Jessica Orr</font></b><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">English Teacher</font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Department Coordinator</font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Chillicothe High School</font></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Phone: (740) 702-2287, ext. 16231</font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say."</font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><font color="#000000"> --F. Scott Fitzgerald</font><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51)"></font></div></div></div>
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