Allen County School district utilizes Handle with Care initiative

SCOTTSVILLE Ky.-Recently, the Allen County School District in Scottsville has received a new tool that will help keep the students safe and ready to learn. It’s called the Handle with Care initiative, which closely links the schools with local law enforcement.

“It’s a collaboration between our local law enforcement, city police, county sheriff’s office, and the schools. It allows us to get a notification on students when they’ve had something traumatic happen in their lives,” said Allen County School District assistant superintendent of operations Brian Carter.

Traumatic incidents that would require the appearance of law enforcement. If school-aged children are affected, law enforcement submits the affected student’s name to the school they attend.

“We get an email or a text message per school saying ‘joe smith’ handle with care. That’s all the information we get. We don’t get what happened. We just get a handle with care notice for us to be watching them to see if they have any needs the next day,” Carter said.

It’s being done to ensure that students are able to overcome obstacles that would prevent them from having successful academic lives. Allen County School district superintendent Travis Hamby said he’s glad to have another outlet to serve the students.

“We’re excited about this new collaboration tool that we have between law enforcement and the school district. It just increases communication, our ability to learn and know what’s happening with our kids outside the school day,” Hamby said.

No matter what struggles the student may be going through, Hamby said this method is an efficient way to make sure everyone’s learning at high levels.

“That’s really what this program is about. Being sure that we can meet the needs of all of our students in our school district each and every day,” Hamby said.