BAMS NEWS

 

April 4, 2023

A Message About School Safety From Mr. Lyman

Some topics are really challenging to talk about. The topic of school shootings and intruders in our schools is certainly one of them. Every time one of these events takes place, it makes all of us cringe in fear and dismay at why something so horrific could happen. The events at Columbine High School in 1999 kick started an unfortunate trend in our society. Schools have been adjusting for years to create plans to respond to a hostile intruder(s).

I began teaching in 2001 just after Columbine. Over time, school plans have gone from basic lockdowns, to where we are now, which is an option based response to a hostile intruder in our school. We know there is no perfect plan for the potential for hostility towards our school and community. However, at BAMS/BUHS, we have well developed procedures in the event something was to occur. 

For the past seven or eight years our school district has used a response called A.L.I.C.E.  This acronym stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. Those are the options that we can use during a hostile situation. ALICE is a commercially produced program that we use as a guide for our responses. The safety personnel in the building are trained in ALICE, and we then train students and staff.

During the school year, we have regular collaboration with the Brattleboro Fire and Brattleboro Police departments, the bus company, and the school teams. We have a very well coordinated plan laid out. For obvious security reasons, we do not produce the details of those plants to the public.

In closing, I leave you this information to assure you that we have the students and staff safety at the top of our priority list every day. We have well-developed plans to respond to hostile or unsafe situations, and we regularly review and update those plans to ensure we are prepared in case of an emergency. Thank you for trusting us each day to keep your children safe!

Vermont Author Kekla Magoon Visiting BAMS

Our office of Diversity and Equity is pleased to be arranging for an amazing author to visit us this Thursday. Currently, many of our students are reading her books as part of classes in the curriculum. 

Kekla offers presentations focusing on her young adult novels, as well as writing workshops that emphasize finding and trusting your own creative voice. Themes of her talks include grappling with multiple perspectives, making connections to current events, civil rights and civic engagement, and using your voice through writing and activism.

A former NBA star visting BAMS!

This Wednesday, Chris Herren will be our guest on campus. Chris scored over 2,000 career points in high school and went on to play at Boston College and Fresno State. Drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 1999, Herren played two years in the NBA and seven seasons overseas before losing it all to the disease of addiction. In recovery since August 1, 2008, Chris shares his story nationwide with the hope of reaching just one person and making a difference.

The assembly will start with a film presentation highlighting Herren’s basketball career and journey to sobriety. Upon conclusion of the film, Chris will take the microphone and share experiences that have impacted his life as a teenager, athlete and speaker, empowering the audience to rethink how we look at the disease of addiction, from the last day to the first. He will touch on such topics as drinking, smoking marijuana and vaping, pill use,peer pressure, bullying and cutting. To conclude the event, he will field questions from the audience.

If you are concerned about your child being part of this assembly, please do reach out to the school and we can pull them out, or have a counselor check-in with them.

Video Trailer - click here

Vermont Runners Up in Mathcounts!

Congratulations to Jude Anders (5th overall in the State), William Linn, Jeffrey Stocker, Charlie Kiehle, and Maayan Coleman for placing 2nd as a team in the Vermont Mathcounts competition. The team was "coached" by Peggy Maxfield. A photo of the team is at the top of this page.

Spring Sports

If your child plays a spring sport, we begin practices on April 10. Please see the daily announceemnts for regular updates. The announcements can be found on our home page of the BAMS website

School Vacation

School is closed from April 17-21 for the April break. Enjoy!