Campus Safety

A Commitment to Best Practices for Student Safety

Among all that is done to create a welcoming, nurturing and positive school experience at The Frederick Gunn School, we take very seriously the issues of appropriate behaviors and conduct relative to relationships among all members of our community. We strive to adhere to “best practices”, with established standards, guidance and resources for our students, faculty and staff. These are primarily referenced in our handbooks for and regular communications with students, parents, faculty and staff, and are an integral part of the ongoing training, education and resources provided.

The school follows widely accepted best practices, including, but not limited to:

• Clearly defining and articulating in our handbooks what unacceptable boundary violating behaviors are, relative to student-adult and student-student interactions.
• Reviewing and establishing protocols for off-campus trips, including trips for co-curriculars, defining expectations, rules and responsibilities for chaperones and students.
• Making clear and easily accessible in the school’s Student Handbook (available to students, parents and faculty in Highlander Nation) a stand-alone section on sexual misconduct, and noting who to contact for support or information.
• Forming a sexual assault response team (“SART”) and providing names and contact information for students and staff, and clarifying roles for support, investigation and adjudication.
• Ensuring that our Student Handbook has the names and contact information for reporting obligations to Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), Head of School, Dean of Students, and Director of Counseling easily accessible in the section on reporting.
• Reviewing and using a screening process for new employees that includes reference phone calls, phone calls to known past employers and a social media check.
• Making all reasonable efforts, as permitted by law, to disclose the reasons for termination or discipline of an employee to any known, subsequent employer if that employee was the subject of an investigation concerning an allegation of abuse, neglect, or sexual misconduct, and the subsequent employer provides services to children or adolescents.
• Including in the Faculty Handbook the requirements in state law for immediate reporting to Connecticut DCF and school administration, as well as sanctions for not reporting, which may include termination.
• Holding training regularly for staff, faculty and administrators on sexual misconduct, boundary violations and reporting obligations.
• Holding training regularly for students concerning adult sexual misconduct.
• Clarifying the standards and expectations regarding consent in physical intimacy between students.

• The Campus Safety Office is located in Bourne Hall and will soon be complemented by an additional office on the lower level of Brinsmade House. Both offices are central to our campus. Students, parents and employees can contact Campus Safety by calling the office 24/7 on (860) 350-0150.
• The School is transitioning the overnight campus safety team from a contract with Securitas, Inc., to trained safety professionals who will provide our 24/7 campus safety presence around the entirety of our campus. 
• Campus is monitored by walking and vehicular patrols that operate alongside an expanding network of public security cameras. Cameras monitor primary points of entry around the periphery of campus, with the camera network currently adding nearly 20 new cameras around campus at key public locations. The School will endeavor to take reasonable precautions to maintain privacy and security within the sphere of operations. For example, cameras will not be installed in areas where there is a “reasonable expectation of privacy.”
• The Campus Safety team conducts regular safety audits of all security systems across campus, including reviews of security cameras, emergency locking systems, and our emergency broadcast system. 
• Blackboard Connect 5 is our emergency broadcast system for mass notifications and allows emergency alerts and updates to be sent to our community through emails, phone calls, and text messages when needed.
• Campus lighting continues to be assessed with investments moving forward to address dark locations around campus.
• Campus Safety officers lock many areas of campus buildings at the conclusion of each day in an effort to ensure that student access to such areas is appropriately limited after hours. 
• The Director of Campus Safety meets regularly with local and state police to review and discuss best practices for school safety.
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