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August 26, 2024
Dear Prince Family,
Your student's safety is always our first priority at school. If you are new to Prince, we conduct four lockdown drills a year; each semester has one announced and one unannounced drill. When we perform these drills, we have Oconee County law enforcement officers on site (inside and outside our buildings) to provide an objective, third-party evaluation of our performance. The sheriff's office has keys to our school, classrooms, etcetera, and can also see imagery from our security cameras on their cell phones before arriving on campus. Last year, we purchased, installed, and trained on the CENTEGIX system, and all faculty and staff now wear a Centegix badge allowing them to instantly communicate internally and externally (sheriff's office) should they detect a threat on campus. This year, we added an armed security manager to lead and manage the school's safety and security programs.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 27, we will conduct a lockdown drill. You should receive a "Parent Alert Text Message" between 8:55 and 9:00 and another at the conclusion of the drill. Each text will begin with "DRILL, DRILL, DRILL." If you don't receive these text messages, please contact our admissions office so we can update your cell number in our FACTS system. Per our procedures, we will conduct a second unannounced lockdown drill within the next two weeks, which will also be accompanied by "Parent Alert Text Messages," and we will repeat this process after Christmas break.
We are blessed to live in a low-crime county with quality law enforcement officers; however, it is critical that our faculty and students train how to make the best decisions in the first three or four minutes should a campus intruder appear. My Marine Corps training taught me years ago, "A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor." Therefore, when we conduct unannounced lockdown drills, we will continue to do so during “inconvenient times” (lunch, class change, recess, etcetera) to sharpen our decision-making and response times.
We train for a day we pray will never happen, but we will continue to train to ensure your child's safety. Thank you for your continued partnership in a Christ-centered education amidst a rapidly changing world.
In His service,
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