Olean school district safety plan available for public review, input
OLEAN — The Olean City School District’s safety plan is available for public review now through Aug. 11 on the district website.
Superintendent Dr. Genelle Morris shared at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting that the safety plan was publicized earlier that day, and the window is open for the community to comment.
“This is an annual process that we do,” she said. “We send it out through social media, and we put it on our website.”
Morris said the current year’s plan is sent to the entire district staff in either May or June to ask for their feedback, which is used to inform any changes to the upcoming plan for the next school year. The plan is also sent out to the safety committee for their feedback, she said.
“We also have a public hearing opportunity for people to come in and actually share their comments as well,” she said. “We encourage everyone to utilize any of those forms, to look at our district-wide safety plan and give feedback and input.”
The public hearing is scheduled to take place immediately preceding the next school board meeting on Aug. 12. After reviewing feedback from all stakeholders, the school board will consider adopting the plan at its meeting immediately following the public hearing, Morris said.
“That is only the district-wide safety plan,” she noted. “The building-based safety plans are not presented to the community for consideration or feedback. Those are done at the building level and considered confidential.”
New York requires districts to develop district-wide safety plans to prevent or minimize the effects of serious incidents and emergencies and to facilitate a coordinated response to such incidents with local and county resources.
The district-wide plan is consistent with the more detailed emergency-response plans developed at the school level and allows for input from the entire school community.
District-wide safety plans are developed under the state’s SAVE program — Safe Schools Against Violence in Education. Project SAVE is a comprehensive planning effort that addresses prevention, response and recovery concerning various emergencies in each school district and its schools.
If you have questions or comments regarding the 2025–26 district safety plan, email the district at huskystrong@oleanschools.org or call (716) 375-8018.