With the start of a new school year, Scottsdale Unified School District is sharing details about its commitment to creating a safe and secure learning environment. 

School safety and security is a shared responsibility reliant on students, staff, parents and law enforcement partners, according to a press release. 

“To promote this culture of safety, we encourage our school communities to be active participants in keeping our schools safe,” said district security director Josh Friedman. “We ask that they be aware and immediately report any activity that appears to be suspicious, to the district and local law enforcement agencies.”

DIG-IT

SUSD remains focused on its award-winning DIG-IT safety campaign to protect campuses. DIG-IT requires that doors and gates are locked, students and staff wear their district-issued identification badges, and users of SUSD technology devices use cybersecurity best practices, such as protecting passwords, and are aware of potential threats, such as phishing schemes.
SROs

The district is proud of the strong partnerships it has built with the Scottsdale, Phoenix and Paradise Valley Police departments. School Resource Officers are assigned to the district’s nine middle grades schools and five high schools, where they work closely with the local educational community.

“The safety of our children and our schools is a top priority for the Scottsdale Police Department as we embark upon a new academic year,” said Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther. “Our incredibly committed school resource officers are eager to stand by our students every step of the way.”

“That dedication and commitment has always been met by an unparalleled partnership with the Scottsdale Unified School District at all levels of the organization,” Walther continued. “Together, we stand united in ensuring that our children can learn in a safe and secure environment.”

The district recently received grant funding for two additional school resource officers from the Scottsdale Police Department. It is hoped that these positions will be filled by the fall of 2024, at which time they will be assigned to Anasazi and Yavapai elementary schools.

Security staff

The district’s team of 32 security staff members are present at our campuses during school hours and are strategically distributed across our district high schools, middle schools and K-8 schools for after hours public events, ensuring a strong presence and heightened security. The district’s governing board recently made school-based Security positions year-round.

Crisis canines

Three crisis canines are assigned to the Scottsdale Police Department school resource officers based at Chaparral and Coronado High schools and Mohave Middle School.

These highly trained dogs – Rocket, Captain and Copper provide invaluable support during critical situations. Working closely with its local law enforcement partners, the district plans to expand this highly successful student and staff support program to schools in the district’s desert mountain and arcadia learning communities in coming years. Funding for the crisis canine program is a community collaboration between the Scottsdale Unified School District Foundation, the city of Scottsdale and the school district.

New radio system

A critical component of any school safety program is the ability of school and district security personnel to be in contact with each other through a reliable communications system.

For the new school year, the district’s school and security personnel will use a new radio communication system that Friedman believes will revolutionize communications across the district.

“We’ve been working for some time now with an outdated system that required constant, expensive infrastructure maintenance,” Friedman explained. “Our new radios allow us to not only communicate clearly and efficiently with each other, but they also provide us with seamless communication access to our public safety partners and various district departments that play key roles in an emergency, such as our transportation team.”

StopFinder

The new StopFinder app allows registered parents to know where their student’s bus is on its way to and from school and where their student boarded and exited it.

ParentSquare

Effective communications with the district’s parent partners also take center stage in the district’s enhanced safety and security systems for 2023-24.

District officials are excited to launch ParentSquare, a new communication platform that will streamline regular and emergency communications between school and home. With ParentSquare, parents, teachers and administrators can easily stay connected and receive prompt updates during crisis situations.

“At SUSD, we remain dedicated to the safety and well-being of our educational community,” said district superintendent Dr. Scott Menzel. “Through thoughtful, strategic initiatives, partnerships and state-ofthe-art communication systems, we are continuously taking steps to ensure a safe and engaging teaching and learning environment for our students and staff.”

For more information, visit at www.susd.org/safety.