May 25, 2022
Greetings Holley Families and Staff,
I’ve struggled to find the right words for this district communication since the news broke yesterday regarding the unthinkable school shooting that occurred in Uvalde, TX. First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends, colleagues and community members of the 19 young children and two adults, who were horrifically killed at Robb Elementary School. I have felt a deep sadness and a wide range of emotions, and I cannot make sense of this type of thing happening to innocent students and teachers.
Still grieving from the mass shooting just days ago in a grocery store in the city of Buffalo, where innocent lives were also taken for no reason other than hatred, we all need to pull together to support each other. We also must take action.
In all my years working in schools, there’s one thing I’ve come to believe is most important to be successful in our role as educators, and that is having positive relationships with students. Whether it’s to increase academic achievement, to support social and emotional well-being, or to increase safety, having trusting and meaningful relationships with adults matters for our kids. It matters a lot.
We will be reviewing our safety and security measures, as we often do. We’ve had a police presence on our campus, and we have an excellent partnership with the Holley PD. We will continue to collaborate with them. Our security personnel, administrators and staff members will work together to monitor and address behaviors and ensure our schools are locked and secure. We also have a vision to provide even more safety and security measures for our schools with our future capital improvement project plans.
We love and care deeply for our students. We want everyone who enters Holley schools to be safe. We will continue to emphasize building relationships, supporting students’ social and emotional health, and communicating with our families when there are concerns so we can work together.
We greatly appreciate parents speaking with their children about being respectful, following all rules and being safe at school. We expect staff members to be diligent with their responsibilities, and to continue to foster meaningful and positive relationships with their students. We need everyone to work together, communicate and reach out if there are concerns or “warning signs” that someone is struggling and needs support or may be unsafe. This partnership is essential to us.
Holley Means Family has been our slogan at the school district this year. I believe that family is what Holley has historically been about and will always be about. I also believe that our Holley Family will be what gets us through challenging times like now and will keep us safe and successful in the future.
Respectfully,
Brian Bartalo
Superintendent
Visit our
Counseling Department page for links to resources on talking to children about violence - see
Counseling Services Links heading.