Safety

At St. Mary's Academy, the safety of our community is of the utmost importance. We continuously examine our safety protocol and make enhancements regularly. A safety committee consisting of Bill Barrett, Officer John, faculty, staff, and administrative leaders meets regularly. Access to all school buildings is restricted and monitored.

St. Mary's Academy follows the Standard Response Protocol (SRP). The Standard Response Protocol is based not on individual scenarios but on the response to any given situation. SRP demands a specific vocabulary but also allows for great flexibility. The SRP is based on four actions: Lockout, Lockdown, Evacuate and Shelter. St. Mary's Academy routinely drills on these four situations. Our emergency messaging system alerts students and families when these drills occur.

Officer John, our school resource officer, is on our campus daily and involved in all drills. He guides and advises the Administrative Team in all matters of student safety.

Safety Camera Use Policy Statement

Surveillance cameras are in use on the SMA campus as a measure to increase campus safety. They are a tool to deter crime, identify intruders, and gather facts in a safety related situation or emergency.  Camera coverage is most thorough on outdoor areas where faculty and staff gather, travel and recreate. Cameras also record activity in the driveways, parking lots and playing fields.

Cameras are not monitored in real time; however, there are multiple employees who spot-monitor various camera views throughout the school day. Recordings are stored for a limited time should a review be deemed necessary by Academy personnel or law enforcement.  Recordings will be used as one tool to enhance safety, and will be shared with law enforcement personnel when deemed prudent or required by law.

Recordings will not be used to settle personal disputes, for parking lot mishaps, or to search for missing personal property except as directed by law enforcement.

The privacy of our SMA students, families, employees and members of the SMA community is respected and will be honored.  As such, any review of recorded footage is restricted to an SMA employee reviewing an ongoing safety/emergency situation, an SMA employee at the direction of the Academy President or by law enforcement personnel.  Depending upon the emergency or non-emergency nature of the review, the appropriate employee to perform the review will be determined by the Academy President.