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Table of Contents Introduction I. General Considerations and Planning Guidelines. II. Risk Reduction/ Prevention and Intervention.. III. Response. IV. Recovery 3
INTRODUCTION Emergencies in schools must be addressed in an expeditious and effective manner. Schools are at risk of acts of violence, natural, and manmade disasters. To address these threats, the State of New York has enacted the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) law. Project SAVE is a comprehensive planning effort that addresses prevention, response and recovery with respect to a variety of emergencies in schools. The XYZ Charter School (Interim) Building-Level Emergency Response Plan (the Plan ) was developed by the XYZ Charter School Interim School Safety Team. Once the school is open in the Fall of 2010, the Interim School Safety Team will be augmented by student, family, staff, local police and school safety personnel to become the final XYZ Charter School Safety Team. This Interim Plan will be modified as needed to incorporate recommendations of the full final School Safety Team. As we share space with a DOE school, our final District-wide and Building-Level Safety Plans will be created in coordination with our shared space School Safety Teams. This Building-Level Emergency Response Plan was written by the same team that created the XYZ Charter School District-wide School Safety Plan, and in full coordination with the District-wide Plan. Our goals in creating and implementing our Building-Level Emergency Response Plan are: To create an atmosphere and set of practices that prevent violence or unsafe conditions To create/implement a plan that will minimize the effects of serious violent incidents and emergencies To have an effective response plan for all predictable safety concern situations To produce a document that can be used as the basis for informing and training all school constituencies in regard to keeping our school safe. 4
SECTION I: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PLANNING GUIDELINES A. Purpose The XYZ Charter School Building-Level Emergency Response Plan was developed pursuant to Commissioner s Regulation 155.17. At the direction of the Board of Directors of XYZ Charter School (the Board ), an Interim XYZ Charter School Emergency Response Team was created and charged with the development and maintenance of an Interim XYZ Charter School Building-Level Emergency Response Plan (the Plan ). Our goal in creating this plan is to ensure the maximum safety of all students and staff at our school through careful and well thought through planning. We will conduct table-top and actual drills of included plans to facilitate organized and effective use of these plans in the case of an actual emergency. B. XYZ Charter School Emergency Response Team The XYZ Charter School has School Safety Team that addresses all Safety, Emergency Response, and Post-Incident Response planning and execution activities. Our School Safety Team includes: Title Name Role Head of School School Safety Team Head Principal School Safety Team Member Director of Operations School Safety Team Member Faculty Member School Safety Team Member School Safety Personnel TBD School Safety Team Member, Team Safety Expert Parent Representative TBD Local Law Enforcement TBD Official Local Ambulance/ TBD Emergency Response Agency Representative Other TBD This team will be augmented by teacher, parent, student, school safety and local law enforcement representatives in the Fall of 2010. C. Concept of Operations The initial response to all emergencies at XYZ Charter School will be by the School Safety (Emergency Response) Team. Upon activation of the School Safety Team, local emergency officials and the Board of Directors will be notified as appropriate. Efforts may be supplemented by county and state resources through existing protocols. 5
D. Plan Review and Public Comment Pursuant to Commissioner s Regulation, Section 155.17(e)(3), a summary of this Plan will be made available for public comment at least 30 days prior to its adoption. We will include representatives of all key School constituents and interested parties in the development and review of this plan, including a review at our first Parent Teacher Organization (open to the public) in the Fall of 2010. The Final Plan will be formally adopted by the Board. To ensure student safety, the plan will be considered in effect until such time as a full public review can be conducted and the Final Plan approved. Our Building-Level Emergency Response Plan will remain confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under Article 6 of the Public Officers Law or any other provision of law, in accordance with Education Law Section 2801-a. Full copies of the Building-Level Emergency Response Plan will be supplied to both local and State Police within 30 days of adoption. This Plan will be reviewed periodically during the year and will be maintained by the School Safety (Building-Level Emergency Response) Team. For the 2010 2011 school year, an Interim Building- Level Emergency Response Plan will be developed prior to July X, reviewed by the XYZ Charter School Board of Directors prior to school opening, and put into effect until the Final Plan is complete. Upon completion of the Final Plan (with input from all school constituencies) in early Fall 2010, the Plan will be reviewed and approved by the XYZ Charter School Board of Directors. After 2010, the required annual review will be completed on or before July 1 of each year after its adoption by the XYZ Charter School Board of Directors. 6
SECTION II: RISK REDUCTION/ INTERVENTION STRATEGIES A. Designation of School Teams (see XYZ Charter School Safety Team under Section I, Part B above) B. Prevention/Intervention Strategies XYZ Charter School believes strongly in the wisdom of implementing violence prevention and intervention protocols as a primary means of ensuring student/school safety. These protocols take the form of Prevention Programs, Building Personnel Training, Coordination with Local Emergency Officials and Annual Multi-Hazard Training for Students as per below. Prevention Programs (also, see XYZ Charter School District-wide Safety Plan) Program 1 - X (e.g. anti bullying programs, violence prevention meetings, conflict resolution sessions, peer mediation, mentoring programs, extended day programs/clubs, other school safety programs, youth run programs, forums for students concerned about bullying/violence, establishing anonymous reporting mechanisms for school violence/ bullying,etc) Building Personnel Training (See XYZ Charter School District-wide Safety Plan for further detail) In preparation for creating the School Plan and for executing drills, the XYZ Charter School School Safety Team will review information/guidance on the NYSED and New York State Center for School Safety websites as well as Safety Plan from other school. At least one Safety Team member will attend school safety training offered by the NYC DOE and share learning with the entire School Safety Team. Two members of the XYZ Charter School School Safety Team will take CPR and ADT training. Coordination with Emergency Officials The Head of School (School Safety Team Lead) will contact local emergency officials to review Emergency procedures, to verify contact protocols and information, and to coordinate their involvement in School Safety drills. Annual Multi-Hazard Training for All Staff and Students All staff will review the Building-Level Emergency Response Plan in August of 2010 as part of Faculty Orientation. Plan details, including all logistics and roles and responsibilities will be reviewed. Staff will sign off on having reviewed and understood School Safety Plans. The School Safety Team will be responsible for scheduling and executing all drills (table-top based and actual drills), conducting drill post mortems, and updating School Safety Plan updates resulting from Post Mortems. 7
All staff and students will participate in annual drills and exercises that test components of the School Safety Plan. The tentative schedule for School Safety Drills is: Date Drill Type (See detailed plans for each type of emergency response in Section IV: Response) C. Identification of Sites of Potential Emergencies (See Section II, Part D: Hazard Identification XYZ Charter School District-wide Safety Plan) 8
SECTION III: RESPONSE A. Assignment of Responsibilities The chain of command at XYZ Charter School in the case of emergencies is as follows: 1. Head of School 2. Principal 3. Director of Operations B. Continuation of Operations In the event of an emergency, the Head of School or his/her designee will serve as Incident Commander. The School Incident Commander may be replaced by a member of the local emergency response team A relinquishing command, the Head of School or designee may be asked to serve a support role as part of a Unified Incident Command, if established, by the local emergency response agency. The school will follow the Chain of Command outlined above to ensure continuity of operations. C. Access to Floor Plans A set of floor plans and a diagram indicating School Evacuation sites and the routes students/staff will take to these sites will be provided to local emergency response agencies as part of the School Safety Planning process. Every member of the School Safety Team will have a copy of floor plans and evacuation route maps, and a copy of each will be included in the official School Safety Binder (maintained by the Office Manager, and kept in the Main Office). D. Notification and Activation (Internal and External Communications) In the event of an emergency, the following internal and external communications systems will be utilized as makes most sense at the time: School Intercom School Phone system Cell Phones of School Safety Team and staff Walkie-Talkies (supplied to School Safety Team members) Bull Horns Whistles Email Text messaging Local media Standard notification protocol will be for: 9
Notification of an incident or hazard development to the Head of School as soon as possible following its detection In the event of an emergency, the Head of School (Head of School Safety Team) will notify all building occupants to take appropriate protective action (as per notification protocols outlined on the XYZ Charter School District-wide Safety Plan ) See the Section III/ Part B. XYZ Charter School District-wide Safety Plan for further notification procedures. Note that an updated School Staff contact list (with cell phone numbers) will be maintained by the Office Manager and placed within the School Emergency/Safety Binder. This binder will also contain: a list of all local emergency contact names and numbers (police, fire, hospital, Board Members, local officials), Emergency Contact Information for all school staff, and a sheet with the demographics of the school (number of students, number of staff, organization chart for the school). Next to that binder will be a Student Emergency Contact Binder with Emergency Contact sheets for each student. E. Hazard Guidelines (XYZ Charter School District-wide Safety Plan) F. Evacuation Procedures (See Section III, Part B. of the XYZ Charter School District-wide Safety Plan) G. Security of Crime Scene The Head of School (Head of School Safety Team) or designee is responsible for crime scene security and crime related evidence until relieved by law enforcement officials. No item shall be removed, cleaned or altered without prior approval from the appropriate law enforcement agency. Nothing in this section should be interpreted to preclude the rescue and aid of injured persons. 10
SECTION IV: RECOVERY XYZ Charter School Post Incident Responses will include, but not be limited to: Short term: Mental health counseling for staff and students Building security Facility Restoration Post Incident Critique After the recovery stage of any incident, the XYZ Charter School Safety Team will conduct an internal Post Mortem that will include re-evaluations of violence prevention and school safety activities as appropriate to improve our plan. Updates to the Safety Plan will be made as appropriate. Other. Long Term Mental health counseling for staff and students Building security Mitigation actions, as appropriate, to reduce the likelihood of repeat occurrence and impact if a similar incident does occur again. Note that the XYZ Charter School School Safety Team has coordinated with statewide plans for disaster mental health services to ensure that the School has access to federal, state and local mental health resources in the event of a violent incident. 11
APPENDICES Appendix 1: District Map Appendix 2: Building Floor Plan/Schematic, including evacuation routes, shelter locations, utility shut offs and emergency response area layouts. Appendix 3: School organization chart, including indication of School Safety Team members and the School Safety Team Chain of Command Appendix 4: School Staff Contact List Appendix 5: Local emergency resources contact list Appendix 6: Emergency Supplies Inventory Appendix 7: School Vehicle Inventory Appendix 8: American Red Cross shelter agreement and map Appendix 9: Memoranda of Understanding (?) 12