Student safety is a top priority of the Hermiston School District.

From the time students step on the morning bus until they walk out of school in the late afternoon, District staff are watching out to ensure that they arrive home safe and sound. Your children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews are with us several hours a day and nothing is more important to our teachers, coaches, and support staff than providing them with a positive and secure learning environment.

To eliminate aggressive behaviors, school staff work to promote an overall culture of respect and kindness.  One of the areas where we work to accomplish this culture is through cooperation with the Hermiston Police Department, where School Resource Officers build positive relationships with students as a proactive way to monitor campus life.

For the safety of staff and students, the Hermiston School District has both a Security Operations Plan and Emergency Response Procedures in place. These detail how we respond to emergencies. Our schools practice evacuation and lock-down drills on a regular basis, which is outlined in board policy; so, students and staff will be prepared when a real emergency happens. In addition to these regular and frequent drills, the district has worked with the Hermiston Police Department and Umatilla County Emergency Management to conduct annual security exercises to further improve our emergency procedures.  Lastly, the district has worked with the Hermiston Police Department to identify safety and security vulnerabilities—this resulted in the development of a Security Assessment completed in the Spring of 2018.

In addition to the proactive strategies mentioned above, we need your help. The Hermiston School District is always working to mitigate the possibility of school violence. As a parent, grandparents, neighbors or friends, we must have our eyes and ears open to what is going on in our community. There are children potentially at risk all around us and for this reason, HSD was one of the pilot districts to implement SafeOregon—a program that allows for students and adults to notify district personnel of any concern involving a student or our schools. Let us be alert and vigilant as we try our best to keep HSD schools as safe as possible for the young people who come to learn every day. The National Association of School Psychologists outlines tips for parents and teachers on how to talk to children about violence. The document is accessible in English and Spanish.