The safety of our students and staff in the Mount Laurel Schools each day is our top priority. If you see a security deficiency during your visit to our buildings, please contact us immediately. Doors that are not properly locked, shrubbery that may need to be trimmed, unsafe conditions in school lots or parking areas should all be reported to the school office immediately.

Did you know: That one of the security measures at all of Mount Laurel's Schools is a strobe-light system? In the event of a lock-down or lock-out at the school, the strobe lights will be activated to alert everyone to stay away. We will be using the strobe lights for drills as well as actual emergencies. So, if the strobe lights are flashing, stay away. We're either drilling security to keep students and staff safe, or there is an emergency within the school perimeter.
 
The lighting system is designed not only to alert parents and members of the community, but also our staff members who travel from one building to another, or may have left the building. Once our buildings are in Lockdown or Lockout mode, no one is permitted to enter or exit the facility. All exterior doors are locked. In the past, a staff member who may have gone out for lunch might return and use their secure badge to re-enter the building, unaware that the building was in Lockdown or Lockout. The strobe lights will alert them as well as other visitors who might be placed in harm's way by approaching the school during an actual emergency.

By law, all Mount Laurel Schools practice a number of drills throughout the year on a regular schedule. You will hear from your children about practicing Lockdown, Lockout and Shelter-In-Place procedures at various times throughout the school year, as well as the standard Fire Drill evacuation.

One of the most commonly implemented procedures is the Shelter-In-Place activation. A Shelter-In-Place may be called for many reasons. One event would be whenever the emergency squad is called to the building. It simply means that staff and students remain in the classrooms despite bells, etc. so that squad members are free to move through the building without hindrance. Please understand that with hundreds of students and staff members in a building, it is not unusual to have to summon the emergency squad to one of our schools on any given day. Students come to us with varying health conditions, or may suffer an illness or injury once they arrive at school. Although many students are seen each day in our school nurses' offices, a small percentage of the time, the nurse may feel emergency care is indicated.

When an individual student suffers a personal medical emergency and the squad is called, we will not generally send school-wide notification unless the emergency impacts other students in some way.

The simple truth is that we cannot begin to educate children who do not feel safe in our buildings each school day. Security continues to be our first priority.

Here is a review our plan basics:

Please continue to monitor our progress and remain diligent in your observations while in or around our school buildings. Don't hold doors open for people you don't know. Appreciate the request from office staff for proper identification. Understand when we must limit participation at some school-day events for purposes of security. Use established drop-off and pick-up points each day. Perhaps most importantly, listen to the concerns of your children and pass along troubling comments regarding security to your child's teacher or your principal. We value your partnership in this, our most important endeavor.