The safety and well-being of our students, staff and visitors is always a top priority at Des Moines Public Schools. Dr. Roberts sent the letter below to all DMPS families providing an overview of school safety and security measures, including some new for the 2024-25 school year.
In recent months I’ve asked myself: what does success look like for Des Moines Public Schools as it pertains to school safety?
My response is simply this:
We have erected a set of sophisticated systems, protocols, structures, and guidelines that support the physical and psychological safety of every student who attends our schools, and 100% of the adults who serve them.
While our School Board and District administration invests significant resources to ensure strong academic outcomes, develop exemplary teacher and leader practices, and support a robust and successful public safety system, we are always working to improve and evolve across these areas and much more.
Although public safety is always a top priority at DMPS, it has been on my mind even more recently given that, only a few days into a new school year, we learned of a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia and the tragic death of two students and two teachers. I know these senseless acts of school violence are a cause of concern for all of us in education, from teachers and principals to students and families.
Therefore, I want to share with you an overview of Des Moines Public Schools’ commitment to the safety and well-being of our students and the adults who serve and some of the steps we take as a district, including recent improvements:
- Each of our 64 schools, from preschool through to high school, have a detailed school safety plan.
- Standard Response Protocols have been introduced to standardize emergency procedures and communications across the district. In partnership with the I Love You Guys Foundation, which has worked with more than 50,000 schools and organizations around the country, training began in August with our DMPS staff and will continue throughout the school year on best practices for responding to a range of hazards or threats a school might face.
- Impact-resistant films have been installed at numerous points throughout every one of our school buildings. These films are designed to delay unauthorized access by keeping glass intact, providing valuable time for emergency responses to be taken.
- DMPS has also enhanced its security with AI-based video surveillance, which helps to detect things such as weapons, trespassing, and crowd formation across our more than 1,200 cameras. This technology provides rapid notifications to our Public Safety staff to quickly address potential threats.
- Building entryways have been improved and enhanced at every DMPS building, which helps to control and limit unauthorized access to the buildings.
- To further bolster security, the district has added four new members to our Public Safety department, providing additional coverage at middle and high schools and leading to faster response times in case of an incident.
- Emergency communications have been upgraded with the installation of one-touch emergency radios in all schools, enabling rapid notification of emergency responders and enhance communication with the Des Moines Police Department.
- Each school has a comprehensive visitor check-in and check-out system to help ensure that no unauthorized person enters.
- Finally, DMPS works very closely with our local law enforcement agencies, from their presence at sporting and extracurricular events to support in our schools in responding to safety concerns.
While the above is not an exhaustive list of our security and safety structures as we will not disclose anything that compromises our systems, our schools are just like the rest of the world. From time to time, something out of the ordinary happens but, in those instances, we are committed to a highly effective and efficient response.
In light of the tragic news from Georgia this week, I know students may have concerns. Please do not hesitate to contact your school counselor now or at any time you feel your child needs their support.
As always, thank you for choosing DMPS and trusting us in the education and care of your children. As Superintendent, I am grateful for your support and partnership.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ian Roberts
Superintendent