Prioritizing Safety: Faculty & Staff Training at WA

Our annual parent surveys give us another perspective when setting schoolwide goals and priorities. While results vary slightly from year to year, one thing is consistently at the top—safety and security. Safety and security have always been and will always be a top priority at Westminster Academy. This means a continuing process of improvement and training. Before students returned to campus after the new year, all faculty and staff participated in a comprehensive Active Assailant Training.

The training, coordinated by WA Director of Security Steve Feeley, was led by Jay Santaluccia, a veteran law enforcement officer with 36 years of experience. Jay is certified by the Department of Homeland Security as an Active Assailant Training instructor and has conducted threat assessments for schools, churches, synagogues, and government entities since 2007. He also trains civilians in advanced first aid through the Stop the Bleed program, equipping them to respond before emergency personnel arrive.

The training included:

• Best practices for responding to an active assailant incident.
• Case studies of past incidents to understand what worked and what didn’t.
• Scenario-based exercises where faculty and staff practiced classroom lockdown procedures, simulating a real emergency.

The instructors recreated the sights and sounds, giving participants a realistic perspective on what such an event could entail.

The training team commended WA for our overall campus security protocols, robust lockdown procedures, and well-practiced safety drills and made specific mention of the newly installed state-of-the-art security devices (our Giving Tuesday project, which many of you financially supported) on every classroom and office door. We are deeply committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our entire WA community.

We thank you for your support and covet your prayers for the safety of our campus and all those who enter it!