Lunchtime Visits for Valley View Parents, Guardians Reinstated

Valley View School District 365U has decided to allow parents and guardians to eat lunch occasionally with their children at elementary schools that permit such a practice.

READ MORE:

• Parents Kept Out of Classroom Parties Part of Valley View Safety Measures

Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Valley had instituted a temporary moratorium on lunchtime visits for parents and guardians.

The practice was put into place the week prior to Winter Break as school and district officials assessed existing security procedures. The district is continuing to assess those procedures.

Those wishing to stop by school to have lunch with their children should check with their school principal to determine the school procedure that will be in place starting Mon., Jan. 7, for the remainder of the school year.

In all cases, parents who eat lunch with their children will be required to enter through the school office, present a valid photo ID, sign in when arriving and sign out when leaving.

Other security procedures that will remain in place include:

• Increased presence of VVSD-trained and employed security staff in our schools.
• Locking the doors to every classroom in the school district from the inside while class is in session. (No one will be able to enter from outside the room unless the teacher opens the door. Students will still be able to exit.)
• Locking main entrance doors to all school offices throughout the day.
• Random "magnetic wanding" searches on a regular basis at both high schools and all five middle schools.
• Continued review of current visitor procedures for former students who will only be allowed access to buildings before or after school, and only if the visit is pre-arranged through the school office.
• New visitor procedures: Parents, community volunteers, and visitors will be admitted to schools. However, each visitor will be required to provide identification, sign in, state the purpose of the visit, and sign out when leaving. A visitor will be restricted to the area in which the school/classroom event or the volunteer effort is taking place. School administrators will set the specific parameters for each visit.
• No home-cooked food products may be brought into a building for the purpose of sharing with other students. However, store bought, individually-packaged food products may be brought into the school for sharing. School personnel will also be allowed to purchase food from an outside source to bring into the classroom.
• Both the Bolingbrook and the Romeoville Police Departments have agreed to provide more frequent patrols in our school neighborhoods for the foreseeable future.
• Our School Safety Department has begun re-visiting each school's annual safety audit to determine what, if any, additional safety procedures need to be put in place at each school.
• Interviews will be conducted at each school to seek additional suggestions from administrators and school staff.

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