Critical Incidents: Ensuring Safety and Wellbeing

When a critical incident affects our schools, we act immediately. Depending on the unique circumstances of each incident, our approach involves gathering facts, collaborating with the police department and other important partners, and communicating with families and stakeholders within legal and ethical guidelines. Each situation is unique and must be approached accordingly, this means families may not be notified of every incident that happens in a school.

• Gather the facts: School and district leadership work closely with the Eden Prairie Police Department and other partners to investigate any potential concern thoroughly. This may involve interviews, home visits, and legal action. All these processes take time. During this period, information may be limited to avoid disrupting the investigation.
• Communicate following legal and ethical guidelines: State and federal law, as well as district policy, restrict what information is public about students and investigations. When it comes to students, very little information can be shared publicly, and what is shared must comply with data practices and investigatory requirements. Even beyond legal limits, we protect students' dignity as they grow and learn from mistakes. In a moment when you don’t have all the information you want to have, please know we are making decisions to keep our students and staff safe, hold people accountable for their actions, and when possible, help them to learn from their mistakes.
• Sharing information: Once facts are confirmed, messages are carefully reviewed for any inaccurate or misleading information by our partners and legal advisors to be sure we comply with legal requirements and determine who should receive a message. At times, it is only a small group of individuals directly impacted; other times, it may be the entire school community. Whenever possible, we try to have translations in Spanish and Somali sent with our messages so that more families have access to the information. While you wait to receive a message, there are often dozens of school leaders, district administrators, law enforcement and legal professionals working as fast as they possibly can to get information to you. It matters to us that you are informed quickly, and we ask for grace and understanding as we make that happen.

How families can help:

• Trust us to prioritize student safety based on facts, training, and deep situational understanding.
• Talk to your children about social media and their digital citizenship and actively monitor their online activity.
• Share concerns with us and understand that we take all reports seriously.
• Show grace and practice empathy toward Eden Prairie staff, especially during difficult situations.