Safety Services

Kansas law requires each school in Kansas to conduct safety drills so students and staff are cognizant of potential dangers, and understand how to respond.  Each school year, a school must conduct four fire drills, three crisis drills, and two severe weather drills. The severe weather drills are required to be conducted in September and May.  

Crises can come in many different forms.  Many of our crisis drills may include the use of our SafeDefend system.  SafeDefend is a panic alarm installed in schools.  The alarm is only sounded if a suspected armed intruder is approaching or entering the building.  An alarm sounds, and a message is transmitted to local law enforcement to respond. Building administrators have the ability to immediately lock down the school. When police arrive, they have the ability to override the lock down and immediately enter the building. When SafeDefend is used during drills, we encourage law enforcement to observe our drills and offer feedback on processes.
 

School resource officers (SRO) are an invaluable tool to help ensure the security of our schools. In Maize, our partnership with the Maize PD is reflected in their commitment to embedding SROs across the district.

SROs are available at the high school, middle school, intermediate school and elementary school levels. Intermediate school SROs teach the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in 5th grade.  

Maize SROs are Kansas certified law enforcement officers who have completed the basic SRO training at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center. Not only do they perform basic law enforcement functions in our schools, they also provide instruction on topics such as personal safety, traffic safety, the Constitution and other related areas.

School board policy requires that all visitors to our schools must check in at the main office and go through a “Raptor” check before entering the building.

Raptor is a visitor management software that checks names against the National Sex Offender database. Once the check is complete, the system produces a stick-on name badge for the visitor to wear while in our schools.