All of the little things that seemed so important last week in preparation for the holiday season suddenly seem a lot less significant given the tragic events of this past Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, the survivors, their families, the first responders and the entire Newtown, Connecticut community. It doesn't matter where you are from, what your background is, or what your faith is, seeing those images and hearing the stories from Sandy Hook is heartbreaking. As parents, the thought never crosses your mind when you send your kids off to school that they may not come home. As a father of four, two of whom are in school and attend Stonehedge, the events from this past Friday were very difficult to digest.

It is very natural for all of us to now question the safety of our own children. I can assure you that we do everything possible at West Genesee Middle School to keep your children safe. WGMS has a buzzer system to gain access to the building during the school day, along with a sign-in system, and cameras. As a building, we practice a variety of drills throughout the year, including fire drills, lock down drills, stay-in-place drills, and various evacuation drills. In addition, our Building Safety Team, District Safety Team and administrators coordinate routinely with law enforcement, create scenarios and conduct tabletop exercises all in an effort to be as prepared as possible. Our number one priority has been and continues to be maintaining the safety of our students and staff. 

We will have school counselors, school psychologists, and other trained staff members available for any students who need to talk with someone. If anyone has any specific questions or concerns please contact me directly at sdunham@westgenesee.org or at 487-4615.

Steve Dunham