To reassure students and help keep them safe, grades 7-12 heard from safety experts and local police on Sept. 28 during an assembly about school safety.

“We’ve had some questions about school safety so we wanted to bring in folks to talk to you about what we do and what you can do to help keep you safe,” Principal Jacqueline Hill told students.

Michael Needham, the district’s safety and health consultant, and Lt. Jon Reickert from the Schodack Police Department reviewed school safety procedures such as lockdown and fire drills, single-point entry into the school, and visitor badges.

“It may not seem it because of all the attention on school incidents recently but schools are amazingly safe places,” Mr. Needham told students. “You are much safer from a fire in a school than you are at home. You are much safer from an act of violence in school than somewhere else.”

While answering student questions, Mr. Needham stressed the importance of fire drills because fires are statistically more common in schools than acts of violence. He also urged students to say something if they are concerned about a fellow student because that is the best preventative measure.

“The reality of these types of things happening are slim to none,” reassured Ms. Hill. “But we talk about school safety to encourage you to think about what to do if something did happen. I urge you to go home today and talk to your parents about what you learned today.”