Dear Shrewsbury Families, Colleagues, & Community Members,
As we begin Memorial Day weekend, please consider attending our town's Memorial Day program and parade on Monday morning (parade begins at 9:30am at Town Hall and makes stops in the town center and at Mountain View Cemetery). We are proud that Shrewsbury Public Schools students will participate in honoring those who died while serving our nation, including our SHS and Oak Middle School bands, SHS A Cappella Choir, and a speaker from the SHS Speech and Debate team, Shuling Lin, reciting the Gettysburg Address, while many other SPS students will march as part of local scout troops. For the full program, click here.
Our nation continues to mourn the 19 children and two teachers who were slain at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The news if full of harrowing details of the shooting and heart-rending biographies of the innocent victims. As is the case after every school shooting, traditional and social media contain debates about what should be done to improve school security and safety. I commented regarding this most recent tragedy at this past Wednesday's School Committee meeting, and I invite you to view my brief remarks here. Unfortunately, as I referenced in my comments, I can copy and paste information sent after school shootings in previous years regarding our community's approach. For your reference, here is a link to the message with information about our school district's approach school safety and security after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018, and here is the link to the information I sent after the school shooting in Oxford Township, Michigan this past December.
Two topics getting air time about school safety are having armed personnel at schools and having metal detectors. In the substantial safety and security work we have done with our public safety partners over the past decade since the Sandy Hook shooting, neither have been recommended (for some research about each topic, click here and here). Please also know that our Shrewsbury Police Department provides substantial training to officers regarding active shooter situations, and I have full confidence in their ability to respond should this occur here.
One thing that is within our control is to "say something if you see something" if you believe something is "off" that might pose a threat to our community. Please remember:
You can send an anonymous tip to the school district using our School Safety Tip online form. This tip form is linked at the very top of every web page on our website.
You can make a non-emergency call to the Shrewsbury Police Department at 508-841-8577.
Submit a tip, which can be anonymous, using the Shrewsbury Police Department’s “See It, Say It, Send It” online tip form
Text a tip to the Shrewsbury Police Department at 410-847-7837
Download the “See It, Say It, Send It” app and use it to submit a tip to the Shrewsbury Police (the app uses “geofencing technology”)
You can use the QR codes below as well.
Thank you for your continued partnership in caring for our community's youngest citizens. I hope you and your family have an enjoyable holiday weekend.
Respectfully,
Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools
