The school shooting that occurred May 24 in Texas is an unspeakable tragedy that is weighing heavy on the hearts and minds of all Americans today. Peoria Unified extends our deepest thoughts and sympathies to the families of those who were impacted by this horrific attack and to the community of Uvalde.

As a school district, we stand committed to the safety of our students and staff as our number one priority. Our district has been a leader in the state when it comes to emergency preparation and response and credits our strong relationship with the Glendale and Peoria police and fire departments for playing an ongoing role in the process. Whenever there is a senseless tragedy, it prompts us to pause and reflect on our own safety measures. We do this by annually reviewing our emergency response plan, training our staff and students on crisis response and providing access to community partners that can support the social and emotional health of our students and staff. While no amount of planning can guarantee that a tragedy will be averted, we are committed to doing everything in our power to keep students and staff safe.

This summer, our work continues in this area as we prepare to host summer school and camps and then safely reopen for the 2022-23 school year. We hope you will join us in approaching school safety with a calm confidence that our teachers and administrators have our students’ best interest as our number one priority.

You can learn more about the safety measures we have in place at //peoriaunified.org/safety. Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with Texas.