How LNC Helps Keep Your Students Safe and LNC Secure

Dear LNC Families,

At Lake Norman Charter, our first and foremost responsibility is to keep our students safe and their school environment secure. This communication covers our safety procedures against any potential physical threats at school and steps we take to help your child stay safe both in and out of school. This is the first email in a series related to your child's wellbeing. We will send a communication related to your child's health tomorrow. And on Thursday, our families with 5th through 12th grade students will receive a communication related to mental health support available to their child.

What LNC is Doing to Help Keep Students Safe:

For the ninth year in a row, we are proud to fund the school resource officer position, ensuring that HPD Officer Ron Bononno (Officer Bo) remains an integral part of our school community. Officer Bo's presence not only fosters a safe environment but also allows him to get to know our students and faculty through everyday interactions as well as through his participation in initiatives and programs such as those below. We recognize the importance of Officer Bo's continued presence in the school and the positive impact he has on both the students and faculty.

K/1st grade – Dangers in the home; recognizing emotions in your peers and “stranger safety"
3rd grade – Interpersonal communication; bullying; conflict resolution
5th grade – O.H.A.N.A. – Weighing risks and consequences of decision-making, bullying and interaction with police
7th grade – Internet and social media safety including sending and receiving graphic content and the consequences of cyberbullying
9th grade – (through health class) Substance abuse; opioid effects; teenage dating violence (accordance with SL 2019-245)
10th grade – Sex trafficking prevention; best practices when you encounter police while driving a vehicle
11th grade – Dating violence part II
12th grade – College risks and prevention; open discussion followed by Q&A about students' constitutional rights

Offering Cup of Joe with Officer Bo sessions in August, where LNC SRO Officer Bononno meets with parents to explain the security measures LNC has in place to protect students, staff and visitors, including updates to our processes in response to recent events and changes in best practices. He discusses ways parents can best navigate carpool and offers a question and answer opportunity. If you missed these informative meetings, you can watch a replay using these links:

ES Officer Bo safety meeting replay

MS Officer Bo safety meeting replay

HS Officer Bo safety meeting replay

Continuing our relationship with the Huntersville Police Department, including its K-9 unit, to keep our schools free of drugs and weapons and collaborating with them on our school safety plan.

Constantly reassessing our safety procedures using learnings gleaned from current events to improve our processes, particularly surrounding student privacy and security. For example:
A student's Student ID number must be provided to view their school photos
Information regarding student field trip locations has been removed from the LNC calendar on the website

Upgraded internal and external cameras at our main campus to provide more extensive coverage of our campus. This includes technology that allows HPD to access our cameras in the event of an emergency.

Reinforcing school buildings in strategic areas.

Holding regular drills so students and staff know what to do in true crisis situations, including some at unexpected and unconventional times so students and staff practice in various scenarios. Understanding that for our youngest Knights safety drills can be frightening, Officer Bo wrote a book to share with our elementary students on code red drills.

Again this year, we are collecting mobile phone numbers for our high school students so in the event of an emergency we can quickly reach them. Please ask your student if they have responded to the form we posted to HS Student News.

As part of our MS Digital Citizenship training, 6th grade students receive instruction on online safety and 8th grade students learn about the importance of their digital footprint as well as privacy and security online.

Because of our smaller school size, we are able to know our students, including their social circles, mental state and emotional circumstances, well enough to recognize a problem or negative change.

In addition to our team of counselors available to help students with their socio-emotional needs, LNC has joined with Atrium Health to offer students school-based virtual therapy. Common conditions Atrium Health addresses include adjustment issues, anxiety, depression, grief and classroom behavior issues. Students see a virtual provider during school so there is no missed school due to late arrivals or early dismissal for appointments, and parents can join by phone or video. We will be providing more information about this valuable service for students soon.

Continuing our “See Something, Say Something” program that encourages students who have concerns about themselves or their friends or become aware of important information to feel comfortable and empowered to tell a trusted adult or utilize the Say Something app (6th to 12th grades) anonymously.

What We Ask Parents to Do:

Respect our safety procedures and policies when on our campuses, including giving your undivided attention to staff during carpool.

Sign in at the school office when you arrive on campus, wear a visitors badge or lanyard while in the building, and sign out when you leave.

Know who your student's counselor is and reach out to those individuals if you have concerns regarding your student or their peers.

Foster open and ongoing dialog with your students so that you are aware of their daily interactions, how they are coping, etc. and reinforce “see something, say something” by encouraging them to reach out to their counselor if they need support or guidance.

LNC Emergency Procedures:

While prevention is our goal, we must also plan and prepare for a true threat on our campuses.

A Code Red lockdown ensues if a serious and immediate threat is identified at our school. If this situation occurred, here is what you need to know:
All interior doors are locked with students and staff sheltered inside and absolutely no one is permitted to enter or leave the building. This will remain the case until the managing law enforcement agency lifts the lockdown.
As soon as we are able, LNC will communicate information to families so if any of your contact information changes be sure to notify the school through our Student Information Update Form or Infinite Campus when the system is online.
If you become aware of a lockdown on campus DO NOT dial 911 or the school as it is crucial that phone lines remain open for emergency communications
Do NOT come to the school. It is vital that roadways near and on campus remain open for emergency vehicles
If we had a serious safety incident, parents would be directed to either the Huntersville Business Park or to an alternative designated area that we communicate. Students will be transported to this staging area once the lockdown has been lifted.
If there were an incident at either the HS or MS, our entire main campus would go on lockdown, however the ES campus would not. Conversely, if there were an incident at the ES campus causing a lockdown, the main campus would not go on lockdown.
All of our families will be notified, regardless of the campus their student is on, should either of our campuses go on lockdown.

A Code Yellow status occurs if there is police activity is in the area, however not on campus. If this situation occurred, here is what you need to know:
Regular instruction continues, but students remain inside the building (no outside activity).
No visitors are permitted to enter or leave the building. This will remain the case until the managing law enforcement agency lifts the Code Yellow status.
LNC will communicate information to families so if any of your contact information changes be sure to notify the school through our Student Information Update Form or Infinite Campus when the system is online.
All of our families will be notified, regardless of the campus their student is on, should either of our campuses go on a Code Yellow status.
If there were an incident that triggered a Code Yellow status near the HS or MS, our entire main campus would go on Code Yellow, however the ES campus would not. Conversely, if there were an incident near the ES campus causing a Code Yellow, the main campus would not go on this status.
If you become aware of a Code Yellow status, DO NOT dial 911 or come to school as it is important that phone lines and roadways remain open for emergency purposes.

We will continue our safety drills so students and staff know what to do in the event of a true emergency and adjust our safety processes to align with best practices as needed.

We appreciate your cooperation and support of our procedures intended to keep all LNC students and staff safe.