Quaker Valley School Board is working toward adopting a new safety policy.

Superintendent Joseph Clapper said the board discussed and worked on a draft going two years back, but never approved the policy because of references to a safety manual that hadn't been completed.

By next month, he said the manual will be completed and the board will be on its way to adopting the policy.

Improving safety and security of students, staff and visitors is nothing new for Quaker Valley. Clapper said the district was already doing things, such as working with Risk Solutions, a New York-based company, to implement better safety measures.

“This has been going on for a good long while so we’re feeling really comfortable with where we are with the plans,” Clapper said.

School Director Danielle Burnette presented the draft policy for discussion at Tuesday’s committee meeting. Burnette said the topic is “very heavy on parents hearts” in light of the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

Twenty children and six adults were killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The 20-year-old gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot in the school, and the body of his mother was later found in her home.

School Director David Pusateri pointed out that one of the teachers killed in the Sandy Hook shooting was a substitute teacher, and raised concerns about safety procedures and substitutes.

“I think we need to take a harder look at what we do with our substitutes," Pusateri said. "We have subs in our buildings all the time.”

Clapper said a presentation will be made next month on school safety.

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