School Safety & Security

Reporting safety Concerns

If you are a student or a parent/legal guardian with a safety concern, report it to a school principal as soon as possible.

Kennewick School District offers students, families and community members the ability to submit safety concerns by phone, email and text message, as well as through a form on the district website. Reports of harassment, intimidation, bullying and cyber-bullying may also be submitted online.

Report a Concern

Programs & Prevention

Kennewick School District is committed to providing a safe learning environment for students. Our goal that every student is safe, known, and valued focuses on both physical and social-emotional safety. When students are physically and emotionally safe, they are better able to learn and achieve at high levels. The district's Safety Team, facilitated by the superintendent, meets regularly to coordinate safety efforts across multiple departments. As a school district, our safety and security efforts include:

Physical Safety

Facility Safety Measures

SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS, SCHOOL SAFETY OFFICERS & SECURITY STAFF

School Resource Officers

Kennewick School District partners with the Kennewick Police and the City of Kennewick to provide school resource officers, providing coverage for five middle schools and three high schools. School resource officers are an integral part of the district's safety plan and provide a variety of services while on campus, including developing school safety plans and protocols to ensure students and staff are safe from harm, conducting drills, de-escalating aggression between individuals or breaking up fights, detention or arrests, personal property searches, school patrols, safety duties at events, and law enforcement education.

School Safety Officers

Kennewick School District (KSD) is in the process of adding school safety officers to all of its elementary schools. As of the start of the 2023-24 school year, five of the 18 open positions have been filled. The district will continue to hire as qualified individuals are found.

School safety officers are KSD employees whose positions are funded by the KSD Educational Program & Operations Levy that was passed in February 2023.

Their role is to be a visible presence in schools, building relationships with students and staff, protecting students and making sure everyone goes home safe. School safety officers also conduct non-traditional security such as security checks and involvement in emergency preparedness, training and regular school drills.

The program is administered in partnership with the Kennewick Police Department (KPD), which is involved in the hiring process and completes background investigation checks on school safety officer applicants. KPD facilitates advanced level training to those selected for these positions in firearms, active shooter scenarios and de-escalation techniques. KPD also provides access to police radio channels for emergency situations.

Security Staff

Kennewick In addition to School Resource Officers (SROs) all middle and high schools in the district have staff members who provide security services on campuses. Security personnel are responsible for providing security for students, staff, the buildings and property by patrolling school buildings and building perimeters, including parking lots and any unsupervised areas. Security staff intervene in activities that may result in injury, serve as a role model for students, help supervise the arrival, dismissal and meal times, monitor security cameras, intercept unauthorized visitors, notify police and emergency personnel when there is an emergency, notify the correct personnel when there is evidence of substance abuse, severe medical conditions, child abuse, potential suicide, alcohol abuse, etc., and assist emergency responders when necessary.

School Safety Plan, Drills and Staff Training

School Safety Plan Requirements/Drill Requirements

All schools have current safe school plans and procedures in place, fully consistent with federal law. These comprehensive Safe school plans contain information on duties of school districts surrounding reports, drills, rules, and first responder agencies.

Building Drills

All Kennewick School District schools conduct safety drills at least once per month, including summer sessions with students. Drills practice four basic functional threat or hazard responses:

Shelter-in-Place—To limit the exposure of students and staff to hazardous materials, such as chemical, biological, or radiological contaminants, released into the environment by isolating the inside environment from the outside
Lockdown—To isolate students and staff from threats of violence, such as suspicious trespassers or armed intruders, that may occur in a school or in the vicinity of a school. Lockdown drills do not include live simulations of or reenactments of active shooter scenarios that are not trauma-informed and age and developmentally appropriate.
Evacuation—To move students and staff away from threats, such as fires, oil train spills, or tsunamis
Earthquake—To practice the "drop, cover, and hold" protocol

For more information on the definition of drills, watch Defining Emergency Terms for Schools is a 5-minute video tutorial for Washington schools to assist them in their preparedness efforts.

Bus evacuation Drills

Kennewick School District's transportation services department conducts emergency evacuation drills three times per year on school buses in accordance with state law (WAC 392-145-080).

Required Staff Training

All Kennewick School District staff member take required training courses in areas of school safety each year. Trainings include safety topics such as bullying recognition and response, child abuse and neglect, discrimination and harassment, staff responsibility and conduct, health emergencies, maintaining staff-student professional boundaries, managing difficult behaviors, workplace hazards, sexual harassment, the McKinney-Vento Act, and more.

Protecting Students from Discrimination, Harassment, Intimidation & Bullying

Policies

Student Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying, and Cyberbullying

Policy 3207 STUDENTS Prohibition of Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying, and Cyber Bullying
Procedure 3207 STUDENTS Prohibition of Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying, and Cyber Bullying
Policy 3207 STUDENTS Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying Incident Reporting Form

HIB Compliance Officer

BJ Wilson
Director of K-12 Student Services
Email
(509) 222-6534

Social-Emotional Safety

Supporting Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

SEL Standards

Washington's K-12 SEL Standards & Benchmarks
Kennewick School District's Policy 3290 Social Emotional Climate | Procedure/Regulation 3290

Learner Profile

The Kennewick School District Learner Profile defines key digital citizenship, social, life and employment skills that our district wants students to have. District officials will use the profile in strategic planning and designing educational experiences for students.

School-Based Programs

Character Strong

CharacterStrong provides research-based Pre-K through 12th grade social & emotional learning curricula and professional learning services that positively impact lives.

Purposeful People (Grades K-5)

2nd Step (Grades K-5)

RULER (from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence) (Grades 6-8)

Kinder Kickoff (incoming grade K)

Each year, elementary schools welcome families and kindergarteners with a half-day orientation to make the transition to kindergarten as smooth as possible for students.

WEB (Incoming Grade 6)

Link Crew (Incoming Grade 9)

Substance Abuse Awareness, Prevention & Intervention

D.A.R.E.

D.A.R.E. is a comprehensive prevention education program taught by highly-trained Kennewick Police officers. D.A.R.E. Education Programs deliver science/evidence-based curricula that teach students good decision-making skills that will help them lead safe and healthy lives and cope with high risk circumstances including drugs, alcohol, violence, bullying, and internet safety.

D.A.R.E. is offered to all fifth grade students at all elementary schools, including Mid-Columbia Partnership
D.A.R.E is offered to all sixth graders at Highlands Middle School
D.A.R.E. is launching a pilot program at Southridge High School during the 2022-23 school year

ESD 123 Prevention Interventionists

Behavioral Health & Suicide Prevention

Community-Based Partnerships (Providing Wraparound Services for Students & Families)

Communities in Schools of Benton-Franklin

Kennewick School District partners with Communities In Schools (CIS) of Benton-Franklin to empower students to stay in school and on a path to a brighter future. CIS site coordinators work inside schools to connect students to caring adults and community resources designed to help them succeed.