At the Hatboro-Horsham School District, the safety, security, and well-being of our students and staff are foundational to our mission. Safe schools create environments where students feel supported, connected, and ready to learn, while providing staff with the confidence to focus on teaching and inspiring every learner.

Message from the Safety Director

Dear Hatboro-Horsham Families:

Creating and maintaining safe, welcoming schools is a shared responsibility and one of the District's highest priorities. The Hatboro-Horsham School District is committed to fostering learning environments where students and staff can thrive through proactive planning, strong partnerships, and a culture of preparedness.

The District maintains a comprehensive, multi-layered emergency management and school safety plan that is reviewed and updated annually. Our approach encompasses prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, ensuring we continuously evaluate and strengthen our practices to meet the evolving needs of our schools.

This work is strengthened by our close partnerships with the Hatboro and Horsham Police Departments, the Horsham and Hatboro Enterprise Fire Departments, and the Hatboro and Horsham Offices of Emergency Management. Together, we regularly review procedures, coordinate planning efforts, conduct training, and seek feedback to enhance the safety and security of our schools.

The initiatives highlighted below represent just a portion of the comprehensive measures in place throughout our District. We remain committed to continuous improvement, collaboration, and providing every student and staff member with a safe, secure, and welcoming learning environment.

Thank you for your continued partnership in supporting the safety of our school community.

Dedicated School Resource Officer (SRO) at Hatboro-Horsham High School

The HHSD’s School Resource Officer Program has been in existence since the 2018-2019 school year.  Horsham Township Police Officer Mary Novak is on location every day when the high school is in session.  Officer Novak has over 23 years of law enforcement experience. She works daily to help protect, mentor, and educate our high school students. In addition to the SRO, both Hatboro and Horsham Police Officers are visible throughout the district.  Officers frequently conduct daily walk-throughs and drive-throughs at all of our schools.  

Run/Hide/Fight Protocol at HHSD

HHSD has fully modified its emergency response to an armed intruder from a traditional lockdown protocol to an option-based protocol named Run/Hide/Fight. The Run/Hide/Fight emergency response to an armed intruder is the established best practice for educational environments and is recommended by the US Department of Homeland Security, the Montgomery County Office of Safe Schools, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, and the Hatboro and Horsham Police Departments. After training staff in the new protocol, we began conducting Run/Hide/Fight drills with our students.  Student age, grade level, and student well-being are taken into account when conducting these drills.  We will continue doing these drills with our staff and students so that they become competent and confident in them.  

Threat Assessment Teams

After-action incident reports on incidents of targeted violence in schools indicated that there were noticeable and tangible clues as to the intentions of the actor prior to the event.  These clues included what the actor may have said to other students and/or the actions and behaviors the actor exhibited prior to the violent incident.  Identifying troubled students before they act is imperative.  The best practice of developing and using threat assessment to identify these students is essential to preventing targeted acts of violence in schools.   HHSD has embraced the threat assessment team concept and has implemented it.  HHSD partnered with the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, the Hatboro Police Dept., the Horsham Police Dept., and the University of Virginia for this initiative.  

Safe2Say Something Tip Line

The Hatboro-Horsham School District is committed to fully training all our students in the use of the S2SS Tip Line.  Since S2SS’ launch date, 1/14/19, we have received and investigated hundreds of tips regarding the safety and well-being of our students.  Although a majority of these tips are not life safety tips, we have been able to successfully intervene with student life safety issues involving bullying, mental health, and self-harm. All of these interventions stem from our students' use of the Safe2Say Something Tip Line.   

HHSD continues to work hand in hand with our community partners in order to make our schools as safe as possible.  Please feel free to contact me any time if you have any questions regarding safety in our district.