District Safety and Security Enhancements

The safety of our students and staff and security of our buildings is the District's number one priority. At Madison Public Schools, we take a multifaceted approach to school security through a combination of personnel, physical infrastructure, and technology infrastructure. We review our safety and security systems frequently and are constantly working to enhance our current practices.

Personnel

The District has three distinct security positions.

SRO

The District has two School Resource Officers that patrol our campuses. An SRO is a member of the Madison Police force that has been assigned to work in the Madison Public Schools. This individual receives yearly training as an SRO and is armed.

Memorandum of Agreement
(Board of Education/Board of Police Commissioners)

Armed School Security Specialist

Armed School Security Specialist a retired local or state police officer who by law must be hired by the school district but is also supervised by the Chief of Police. This individual receives yearly training as an SRO and is armed.

School Security Specialist

A school security specialist a Madison Public Schools employee who is hired to provide security but does not carry a weapon.

Each building has at least one Armed and one unarmed School Security Specialists.

Advanced Lockdown and Safety Protocols – “ALICE” Training

Law enforcement experts continually work to improve and modernize response protocols to violent threats. The current recommended response protocol is called the ALICE approach, an acronym that represents five different responses to violent threats. The administrative team was trained in this approach this summer and the entire MPS faculty and staff will be trained over the course of this school year.

Campus Shield PAL Program

Over the years we have installed infrastructure to implement a system called, "Campus Shield". With this technology, each staff member is assigned a “PAL”, which is a personal alarm locater. The PAL operates under radio frequency – the most reliable communication system - and functions as a personal 911 that will only be used in case of emergency.

See It, Say It, Send It Anonymous Reporting App

In recent years the use of anonymous reporting apps has grown exponentially for the purpose of providing another method to report safety concerns at the earliest possible moment.

Madison Public Schools has adopted the See It, Say It, Send It anonymous reporting app for the district. This app gives students – and the entire school community – another tool to quickly and anonymously report safety concerns.

FAQs

What is the advantage of an app? Why can’t students/parents just call the school/cops with concerns?

Although it is preferred to receive any tips or reports in person, doing so may be challenging for some students. The anonymous reporting approach provides students with an opportunity to share potentially critical information in a way that is comfortable for them. Students and parents can continue to call or meet with school officials to make a report, or in the event of an emergency, the police department.

Will someone monitor the app all the time? Who monitors the app?

The app will be monitored by Madison Public Schools personnel on school days, from 7:30 am-3:30 pm. An app user is asked to call or text 911 in the event of an emergency. If an app user makes a report outside of the school monitoring hours, a prompt will be displayed on the device screen with the main phone number for Madison Youth and Family Services (MYFS) during regular business hours, as well as an after-hours cell phone number monitored by MYFS.

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