Dear Beach Park Learning Community,
As of this communication, our middle school has received 3 threats against the school or a specific staff member causing us to thoroughly investigate, place the building in a hard or soft lockdown, or have our students do remote learning so we could assess a threat made and ensure the safety of all students and staff. Whether you agree with how we have handled each situation or not, I believe we can all agree we need to partner together to change our trajectory and help our students understand the impact these threats are having on all students, staff and the entire Beach Park Learning Community and the lasting impact it can have far into our future.
At our last Board of Education meeting, I made a bold request to the Board to allow me to hold Mandatory Parent Meetings for all middle school students. I believe we need to all come together to discuss what is happening and how we can partner together to stop the threats and educate our students on the impact their decisions have on the entire learning community and the consequences that can follow at school as well as with law enforcement.
We will be holding these mandatory parent meetings next week. Each grade level will have one day with 3 available times to attend. If you can not make one of the times for your grade level, you may attend another grade level’s day and any of the available times. If you cannot make any of the nine meeting times, you will need to contact Diana Contreras, the Executive Assistant to the Interim Superintendent, to schedule a one-on-one meeting with Dr. Denise Wilcox. If a student's parent(s) does not attend any of the meeting opportunities, starting on Monday, November 7, 2022, the student will be excluded from attending school until an in person meeting is scheduled with Dr. Denise Wilcox, the District Interim Superintendent.
Meeting dates and times by grade level are listed below:
Sixth grade parents: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 @ 9:10 am, 3:00 pm, and 7:00 pm
Seventh grade parents: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 @ 9:10 am, 3:00 pm, and 7:00 pm
Eighth grade parents: Thursday, October 27, 2022 @ 9:10 am, 3:00 pm, and 7:00 pm
All meetings will take place at Beach Park Middle School in the cafeteria. Parents will need to park in the back of the building where our buses park in the morning and afternoon, and they will enter from the back doors and sign in next to their students' names. Once you have signed in, you will be asked to go directly to the cafeteria. If you have more than one student at the middle school, you can attend one meeting on behalf of all of your students, and you will be able to sign next to each of your students' names when you sign in. The building administrative team, Dr. Denise Wilcox, Dr. Donald McKinney, and Dr. William King (Officer King) will be leading the meetings and discussions. Please know this will not be a town hall meeting; the District team will be sharing important information, and partnering with parents to help end threats of violence in our District and problem solve together in the interest of safety and understanding for all. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Denise Wilcox directly: dwilcox@bpd3.org. Remember, my door is always open.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I am solution minded and driven to serve our students and families in an effort to maintain a safe and secure environment for learning for all.
In Partnership,
Dr. Denise Wilcox, Interim Superintendent
Read this letter in English (click here) / Spanish (haga clic aquí)