Lakeview Parents,

I would like to make you aware of an incident that took place at Prairieview Elementary School. Please
know that in the event of an active threat to student safety, our communication timelines would be
significantly shorter. In this instance, we felt it was important to focus on informing and supporting our
Prairieview students, staff and parents, and to provide you with the most updated and accurate
information regarding the following event.

Yesterday, a gun was found in a seven-year-old Prairieview student’s backpack. The weapon was
recovered without incident by a staff member while placing papers in the backpack. The employee
involved did exactly what staff are trained to do, to be aware of potential safety concerns and respond
in a manner to help keep our school family safe.

It has been determined that the child did not put the gun in the backpack and did not plan to bring it to
school. No student saw the weapon in the school and at no point did the weapon leave the backpack.
This is a very unfortunate incident, but there is no indication that there was ever any intent to cause
harm.

The matter has been turned over to the Battle Creek Police Department and Child Protective
Services. We will continue to support their investigations. We are also in contact with Secure
Educational Consultants, the company that provided our training and evaluated and updated our safety
plan. They are currently reviewing the incident and will make recommendations to ensure that we
continue following best practices in all matters of school safety.

The entire Prairieview staff greeted students on the playground this morning. As disheartening as this
incident is, thanks to their dedication and commitment, Prairieview students came to school today
knowing they are cared about and ready to learn.