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As winter break is officially underway, I would like to focus on the topic of school safety.

While we unpack this topic, I would like to highlight the steps that we have recently taken and our planned next steps. I would be remiss if I did not recognize the excellent partnerships that we have established with community partners and emergency responders as we continue to work on our school safety planning and preparation.

We meet quarterly with law enforcement, school principals, fire department, district health personnel and other pertinent staff to discuss all things school safety. These topics include planning, current trends, updates from partners and other relevant topics.

In all of these conversations, our focus is on maintaining safety and preparation within our schools.

Last year our focus was on securing our exterior doors for the remaining schools that still had unsecured entrances. Secure entrances were established at Bemidji High 歪歪漫画, Paul Bunyan Center, and modifications were conducted at the Middle 歪歪漫画 to create a fully secured entrance.

Last spring we worked through a reunification process and developed a plan for reuniting parents and students in the event of a school evacuation.

We understand that school safety is more than just securing doors. While physical safety is important to us, it is only one piece of a comprehensive approach to school safety.

This year we are not only continuing to improve our school鈥檚 physical safety, we are also working to develop Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) procedures. While the name may sound intimidating, the purpose of the BTAM is truly all about helping a student who is struggling by connecting students with mental health, counseling or other applicable services.

This direction is based on current school safety research. The U.S. Secret Service recommends this approach to creating situational awareness in schools. BTAMs consist of a multidisciplinary group of school and community partners whose main goal is to help students who are struggling.

The first step of a BTAM is to find out why the student is engaging in these behaviors. Students may have experienced a loss of a loved one, maybe their family is experiencing financial difficulties, or maybe they are struggling to fit in at school.

Once the 鈥渨hy鈥� is discovered, our teams work with the students and their families to help them find solutions and/or resources to support them through whatever challenges they are facing.

We believe that refining a BTAM process will add an additional layer of security for our schools. By providing wraparound care and resources when a child is struggling, we can be proactive in our response to school safety. As Ben Franklin once said, 鈥淎n ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.鈥�

Helping our students navigate tough times in their lives is a very important and effective way that Bemidji is working to keep our schools safe and sound.

Jeremy Olson is the superintendent of Bemidji Area 歪歪漫画s. He can be reached at (218) 407-9645 or dr_jeremy_olson@isd31.net.