North Thurston Public Schools partners with Lacey Police Department for Culture of Kindness project

The North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) Board of Directors met with the Lacey City Council last night to report on the progress of collaborative programs, highlighting the district’s partnership with the Lacey Police Department (LPD) to promote a “culture of kindness.”

School Resource Officers and other safety training

Lacey Police Department Deputy Chief Robert Hollis discussed their partnership with the North Thurston Public School.

Troy Oliver, NTPS Assistant Superintendent for Operations, said that NTPS’s partnership with LPD includes three objectives: Training and Support, SRO Programs, and 24/7 Communication.

 Like other school districts, NTPS partnered with LPD to place School Resource Officers (SROs) around Lacey and North Thurston elementary, middle, and high schools.

 “Our SROs went to every one of our city schools and trained our staff on crisis response protocols in alignment with what we're doing as a school district in terms of crisis pieces,” Oliver shared.

 Oliver added that an LPD doctor gave a “Stop the Bleed” training to 30 NTPS staff during last year’s Teacher Professional Development Day.

 LPD Deputy Chief Robert Hollis said this partnership with the school district is vital to making sure that the police understand who the community members are.

 “You're seeing a side of us that you might not see in an enforcement-type action. [We are] partnering to make sure that students, teachers, administrators in the school district are coming to work and go into school in a safe environment,” said Hollis.

 “There's just a long-standing commitment to supporting the schools, and we're proud of that work, the daily support they provide in our schools -- the ability to pick up the phone and say, ‘hey, I've got this going on.’ And they work so closely with our administration, our students, and our parents as well,” Oliver says of LPD’s support.

 Culture of Kindness

NTPS Executive Director of Communications Amy Blondin discussed the Compassionate Community Project: Culture of Kindness project, in which students, staff, and community members are encouraged to build a “culture of kindness” by promoting,  documenting, and celebrating charitable deeds and other acts of kindness.

This joint project is between NTPS, the City of Lacey, and the Lacey South Sound Chamber.

“We started in the 2017-18 school year fundraising for the Lacey Food Bank. We have had projects every year since then, in different forms and fashions,” shares Blondin.

Blondin highlighted the various projects the partnership has focused on each school year: 100,000 Compassionate Acts for 2018-2019, Seasons of Compassion for 2019-2020, Fundraising for the Lacey Food Pantry for 2020-2021, and Spirit of Giving Back in 2021-2023.

“Just to give you a few examples of we've done so far this year -- our River Ridge soccer team handed out pink goodie bags to our opponents from Peninsula during a recent match to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” said Blondin. “Some family members and students came to our service center and stuffed backpacks for us with the supplies from Little Red Schoolhouse, and we were able to give out almost 2000 backpacks to families in our community at the start of the school year.”

Blondin elaborated on a litany of other kindness initiatives: mentor partnerships between high school and middle school students, the Linus project, in which a local club creates quilts and donates them to the community, Lacey Lamplighters, who delivered dictionaries to third graders around the district, and Thurston County Corvettes Club, who donated backpacks filled with school supplies.

City of Lacey Community Relations Specialist Jenny Bauersfeld also shared the involvement of the city government and police department.

Bauersfeld highlighted yet more community-government partnership initiatives, such as a Trunk or Treat event, a police assistance desk in a church, and a Stuff the Bus charity event.

“From the city's perspective, our Lacey Police Department is fantastic in getting out in the community and representing Lacey well and connecting with our community members,” said Bauersfeld.

The North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) Board of Directors had a join meeting with the Lacey City Council last night.