FHSD Unpacked: School Safety 101
Safety is the topic for the second edition of our 2025-2026 FHSD Unpacked series—the district's effort to provide clear, focused updates to help families and community members better understand FHSD. With October being School Safety Month in Ohio, we decided to provide a detailed look at the district’s commitment to safety and the work we do each and every day to provide a safe and secure educational environment where students and staff members can focus on learning.
Proactive and Comprehensive
It is important to be prepared for different situations that could potentially take place at a school. The district and each of our schools focuses on addressing safety matters with a proactive and comprehensive approach by considering possible scenarios, meeting regularly with our law enforcement and first responder partners, developing detailed emergency response plans and regularly educating students and staff about how to respond in different situations.
FHSD has school-specific emergency plans at all buildings for scenarios like fires, threats, intruders and more. These are customized to each building and meet specific standards and criteria to receive state approval. These plans are regularly reviewed with emergency personnel, law enforcement and school administrators to be sure they are updated and FHSD is as prepared as possible for different events.
Safety Teams and Planning
Forest Hills School District works with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Anderson Township Fire and Rescue, the Transportation Security Administration and other agencies to regularly review emergency procedures, coordinate safety drills and implement full-scale exercises, in accordance with state law. These exercises provide an opportunity for FHSD to work with those key agencies that would respond in a real-world scenario, giving all parties important hands-on training that will benefit everyone in a true crisis situation.
Each school also meets regularly to go over their individual building safety plans and procedures, organize training sessions for staff and discuss any topics that may need their attention. Building information is shared with the district-wide core safety team and helps ensure consistent standards are met across all schools and departments in these critical areas.
At the end of the day, every staff member in FHSD is committed to keeping safety at the forefront of everything we do.
Regular Safety Drills
All FHSD schools perform routine safety drills that help students and staff know exactly what to do during a variety of potential emergency situations. In addition to monthly emergency evacuation drills (fire or other safety scenarios), FHSD implements ALICE training at an age-appropriate level across every school. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate, and it is a leading active aggressor response program used by schools and organizations across the country. FHSD students and staff in all buildings are trained three times each year in this emergency response process. All schools also conduct tornado drills once per month during tornado season, as required by state law.
We know even pre-planned drills can cause concern for some students, so our staff work closely to conduct each drill at an age-appropriate level to be sure students are prepared for potential emergency situations without creating unnecessary stress.
Clear Communication
In the event of an emergency, the district understands it is critical to provide accurate information to impacted families as soon as it is safe to do so. We strongly encourage parents and guardians to not rely on information being shared through unofficial channels on social media, because this can often include incorrect information that leads to additional and unwarranted concerns.
FHSD will provide critical safety updates directly to parents, guardians and staff through ParentSquare. This platform allows the district to send text message, email and app updates to parents using the contact information provided via Final Forms. Please take a moment to learn more about ParentSquare on our website here. We will also post information on www.foresthills.edu and on official FHSD social media pages as appropriate.
Our first priority is the immediate safety of students, staff and visitors on campus, and taking quick action to ensure a safe and secure environment will always be our first focus. After handling the immediate response, our goal is to provide as much accurate information as we can based on the specific situation. There may be circumstances where an active, ongoing investigation limits the amount of detail we are able to share, but we will endeavor to provide open and clear communication throughout any emergency situation.
Safer Ohio Schools Tip Line
Everyone plays an important role in keeping the school buildings and community safe. “If you see something, say something,” is an important rule of thumb FHSD teaches students, and it is a good reminder for adults as well.
If you or your student feels the need to report an incident, please use the anonymous Safer Ohio School Tip Line by calling or texting 844-SaferOH (844-723-3764). Calls or texts to the tip line are answered by analysts within Ohio Homeland Security. If action is needed, the analysts immediately forward information to local school officials, law enforcement agencies and the Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) to allow for action and follow up. This is a helpful tool outside school hours, because OSSC has the ability to reach school administrators when they are out of the office and away from email.
Mental Wellness and FHSD Resource List
FHSD understands the importance of a comprehensive approach to both physical and mental safety for students. The district offers a wide-variety of mental and behavioral health resources in all school buildings to increase access to important resources and reduce barriers families may face. Our schools work closely with parents and guardians to support overall student wellness, and some services like school-based therapy are only available with parent permission and involvement. You can learn more about our detailed and intentional approach to supporting mental wellness by exploring the following links.
- School-Based Therapy and Mental Health Partners
- Additional School-Based Supports
- FHSD Resource List (covering a wide-variety of topics)
The photo below shows an activity with Sources of Strength student leaders. Sources of Strength is a peer-to-peer program that focuses on suicide prevention but impacts other issues such as substance abuse, bullying and violence.
Responding to Traumatic Events (TECIP)
Each school in FHSD has its own, dedicated TECIP (Traumatic Event Crisis Intervention Plan) Team that is supported by a district-wide TECIP structure. This approach is used in response to any kind of traumatic event that may take place in or outside of school. Anything from natural disasters, intruders, accidents, death and more may be a traumatic experience for students or staff. The decision to utilize the TECIP approach is determined based on the specific nature of the event and its potential impact on the school community.
TECIP Teams at FHSD are made up of counselors, psychologists, teachers and administrators who work collaboratively to ensure the physical and mental well-being of students and employees in the event of a district crisis. These individuals work together to provide our students and staff with all of the supports necessary in a time of need.
The TECIP framework was developed by COPES Consulting, LLC. All FHSD staff members who are part of the district or a school TECIP team participate in regular training sessions.
School Bus Safety
FHSD is fortunate to have a wonderful group of bus drivers and monitors who work tirelessly to get students to and from school safely each day. In order to meet our high standards for school bus safety, FHSD also relies on cooperation from both families at bus stops and drivers on the street. We strongly encourage all families that ride our buses to review the FHSD Bus Safety Rules each school year to make sure students are behaving appropriately and our drivers and monitors are better able to focus on safely transporting students! Click here to watch a video with helpful reminders for anyone who drives near a school bus.
Digital Safety
In today’s world, it is so important that we work together to ensure students are safe when they go online or when they engage with new digital technologies. FHSD has specific internet filters and safety monitoring systems in place on school-issued student devices, but it is important for families to monitor what students are accessing outside of school.
The Ohio School Safety Center has compiled some helpful resources on its cyber safety webpage here. Some of those tips include:
- Discuss internet safety and develop an online safety plan with children before they engage in online activity.
- Supervise young children’s use of the internet, including periodically checking their profiles and posts.
- Review games, apps, and social media sites before they are downloaded or used by children.
- Tell children to avoid sharing personal information, photos, and videos online in public forums or with people they do not know in real life.
