District safety committee plans lockdown drills and de-escalation training; outreach targets housing instability

At Monday's meeting the district outlined steps to strengthen building safety and to coordinate outreach for housing‑unstable families.

"Over the summer, we had 0 workplace injuries from our custodial team," Steve Bussier, assistant superintendent for safety, told the committee and used that milestone to frame ongoing safety work. Bussier said the committee will conduct safety audits, begin the first round of lockdown drills and "test drive" an updated Alertus platform to improve on-campus emergency communications. He said developmentally appropriate safety training will be scaled for different grade bands.

Bussier also flagged staff injuries related to student behavior as a recurring concern and said district plans include de‑escalation training for staff during the October teacher workshop day, supplemented by continuing conversations and scenario work throughout the year.

On student homelessness, Bussier described outreach coordination with York County Community Action Corporation and other partners and announced that Marissa Stamm has joined the outreach team, funded by a J.T. Gorman Foundation grant to support housing navigation and early prevention. "We're really gonna be looking at what are we doing with early prevention," he said, noting the district has been studying models from larger systems such as Boston Public Schools while adapting for Maine's resources and context.

The committee framed the outreach work as data‑driven and iterative: staff will seek measures to determine whether families remain housed 12 months after navigation work and will refine roles among district and community agencies.

Next steps include scheduled safety audits, a parent night in October, and the Oct. workshop de‑escalation training for staff.