MES Stands in Solidarity With Our Community After the Tragic Event Earlier This Week

Our Morningside Elementary School family stands in solidarity with our broader community after this week's tragic event that touched our cluster. Amy St. Pierre, wife and SPARK Mom of two lost her life leaving a huge void for all who knew her. Beyond those two most important roles, Amy was an accomplished employee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Reproductive Health working in the field of Maternal Mortality, working every day to save lives of mothers and infants. The SPARK PTO has shared an opportunity to support Amy's family should you feel led to do so.

Please click HERE for more information.

We also know that the impact of this event has affected so many others as well. Jazzmin Daniel, Lisa Glynn, Alesha Hollinger, and Georgette Whitlow all sustained life-threatening injuries during the shooting. Others who were present at the medical practice where this unfolded have undoubtedly been changed forever. These people are our neighbors, our friends, our family members, and our loved ones. Some of our own MES parents work in the medical practice where this unfolded. All of us have been touched by this in some way. Words are inadequate to capture what we're all feeling. As a community our hearts are open to everyone affected by this senseless act.

As a school, we wanted to take some time to be intentional about reaching out to you all beyond the real-time updates that were sent the day of the tragedy. Taking this time has allowed us time to unpack the day, and for our families to connect and have dialogue with each other. We wanted to reach out now because we recognize that communication with our MES community is important for keeping us engaged with one another and with the school's highest priority of keeping all of our students safe. It is important to acknowledge that whether you're a parent to a student(s) here at MES or have several children at many schools, your fear is completely normal when something like this happens. On behalf of the PTA, we wanted to extend our immense gratitude to all of our teachers, administrators, staff, and the students for maintaining calm and making sure our students were kept safe and well cared for during the scary events on Wednesday afternoon.

Please read on below for additional reminders about the school safety plan and resources as well as some important reminders and reflections from Principal Sofianos.

Together we stand,

MES PTA

MES School Safety Plan Information

At the start of the school year, Principal Sofianos held a town hall meeting where she shared important details about the extensive safety plan that MES has in place. In addition to having our School Resource Officer, Kisha Louis watching over our students for the last five years, MES school administrators, teachers, staff, and students have been practicing a range of emergency drills covering many different types of situations. Our school community was well prepared to put an effective plan into action on Wednesday afternoon that kept our students and staff safe while maintaining a positive and supportive environment within the school.

If you'd like a refresher on the school safety plan, you can view Principal Sofianos' presentation HERE. The discussion of the school safety plan can be found at minute marker 2:20, while Officer Louis speaks at minute marker 8:23 g to provide an overview of her role at MES. The following drills are covered beginning at minute marker 9:46:



• Lock Down Level 1 Exterior (13:40)
• Lock Down Level 2 Internal (14:57)
• Lock Down Level 3 Full (16:36)
• Fire + Reverse Evacuation Drill
• Evacuation Drill
• Fire Drills

REMEMBER: At MES, We're Not Scared, We're Prepared!

Principal Sofianos will now reflect on the day with some please considers...

Thank you, parents, for your cooperation during our extended Level 1 Lockdown on Wednesday, May 4th. BRAVO to Officer Louis, who reacted swiftly upon being notified that there was an incident unfolding in our city and then jumped into action when the Level 1 Lockdown was called for our school. Students on fields and in portables were quickly brought into the main building, staff walked the school checking exterior doors, visitors were restricted from entering, additional staff answered phones, our normal schedule continued, and I communicated as I could to the parent community. Thank you, Officer Louis, for being so fierce in keeping our campus community of students and staff as safe as possible in these types of unknown and evolving situations.  

We learned yesterday that the victim killed during this horrendous mass shooting was a member of our own Midtown Cluster and Springdale Park Elementary family. We mourn the death of Amy St. Pierre, and our hearts break for her husband, children, family, friends, and community. A “Remembering Amy: Love & Support Give InKind” page has been established to help at this time at  https://www.giveinkind.com/inkinds/O5X9X3T

On Thursday, our teachers were asked to debrief with students and help them to process the lockdown experience. Though we have practiced all three levels of lockdown, this was our first real lockdown of the year. In their wonderful teacher way, they were as transparent as possible, without going into details of the actual incident. We will not share specifics regarding a terrible and tragic event such as this but will leave that choice to you as parents. Some students will learn about this incident, and some will not, which can present challenging conversations at home and at school. If students mention specific information in discussions at MES, we redirect back to the school portion of the experience, encourage them to ask parents and/or steer the conversation to child appropriate topics. In debriefing with a class yesterday with a substitute, I shifted the conversation to Officer Louis and her role as a helper, named other helpers we can rely on in our community, and asked students for suggestions on how we could do the lockdown even better.

As adults we also debrief and process what worked and what we can improve upon. In talking with some teachers, one area we have identified is the use of GPS/Tracking Smart Watches, phones, and technology during a lockdown. Again, we will not tell the students what is happening. In a Level 1 Lockdown, we are focused on keeping the students and fellow staff safe and secure, remaining vigilant, calm, and carrying on with the day. We know Level 1 is the lowest level of lockdown, so we trust that law enforcement is doing their jobs while we follow our protocols inside the school. We ask that parents do not communicate details to their students via phone or smart watch. Some of our students received word of an active shooter as parents sent texts to check on them, causing information and distress to spread within some of our classrooms. We know it was not intentional, as emotions take over in a scary and uncertain situation. Please check on your student without sharing details or alarming him/her or others. We strive to continuously improve our security protocols for MES, and I take each child’s safety very seriously. It is my most important work as your principal and I care for each of them as my very own while they are here with me at Morningside. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]