XI. Lockdown Procedures

Transcription

1 XI. Lockdown Procedures In some types of crises (e.g., an unknown person in the building) it may be necessary to implement a temporary "lockdown" to protect students and staff. Most of the time a lockdown will be initiated when there is an unknown threat or staff is made aware of a known threat that may jeopardize the safety of students and staff. Although most lockdowns will be called as a result of an immediate or unknown threat, it is important to note that a lockdown may be called as a result of any crisis or unusual situation. In these situations, the lockdown is usually called to keep students confined to their classrooms while emergency responders review or handle the situation. A. Alerted by Announcement A lockdown involves the clearing all public areas of students and staff, and securing them behind locked doors. Teachers and staff will most likely be made aware of the situation by hearing an appropriate message (see below) delivered over the PA/Intercom System. If a teacher or other school employee is alerted to a situation of this nature by the message, he/she should immediately begin the "lockdown" procedure outlined below. 1. When made aware of an intruder or other possible threat in the school, office personnel should immediately call the police and then alert the school administration, teachers and staff by announcing the message over the PA/Intercom System to report all pertinent information. The message for a lockdown is, "INITIATE A LOCKDOWN, INITIATE A LOCKDOWN. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. 2. Office personnel should then make the following announcement over the PA/Intercom System, "All students please report immediately to the nearest classroom or office." 3. Office personnel should then tell any students or staff immediately outside the office to come into the office. Office personnel should then lock the door, move away from the door and windows, and sit down on the floor. THEY SHOULD ALSO MAKE A DISTRICT-WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE DISTRICT RADIO SYSTEM TO ALERT OTHER SCHOOLS, ALL ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AND MAINTENANCE STAFF THAT A SCHOOLS IS IN LOCKDOWN. Example: This is (Principal s Name), the High School is in a lockdown, this is not a drill. 4. When class is in session, teachers should immediately: a. Quickly check outside their classroom for students in the hallway and bring them into the classroom. Do not allow any adults, that are not

2 known to you or who do not have a visitors pass, into your room. They could be the intruder. b. Keep students in the classroom, lock classroom door(s) and window(s), and if applicable, pull the blind over the classroom door window. If your classroom has exterior windows, open or keep open the blinds/shades on those windows unless information provided indicates the threat is outside the school building. c. Keep students calm, have them sit down on the floor away from the door and windows in a tucked position, and remain silent. Do not allow students to use cellular phones or any other means of electronic communication. d. Complete an attendance sheet. List the students retrieved from the hallways (as noted above), and make a list of students who belong in that classroom, but are not there. For example, a student who goes to the restroom, but does not return before the lockdown should be included on this list. STAFF SHOULD WAIT FOR THE OFFICE TO CALL THEM FOR STUDENT NAMES. e. Only the teachers or other staff members should use the telephone in the classroom or cell phones, and those phones should only be used to call the police. The staff member can call the police at anytime, but only if the staff member has information that may be valuable to the police or there is a medical emergency. f. If teachers are outside the building with students, do not re-enter the school, but instead keep the class together and move away from the school to an off-site safe location (Bank, Store, Library, another School). Staff member should call police to inform them where they have found shelter with their class. g. Wait for the police or other emergency personnel to evacuate the classroom or area. h. When the police or other emergency personnel arrive, they are in charge of the situation. i. The all clear signal is "THE LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THIS CANCELLATION IS AUTHORIZED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT," will be announced if the potential crisis has been resolved. It is important that this cancellation code should only be used in the event there is a genuine crisis. During practice drills, the cancellation all clear signal should be "This Lockdown drill is now over." If a lockdown cancellation signal is not given and you are

3 not in immediate danger, wait for emergency responders to evacuate you and your students. Legitimate personnel coming to your classroom door to notify you the lockdown is over, or to evacuate you will gain entrance to the room. Therefore, do not open the door for anyone. 5. If a crisis has occurred that warrants the transportation of students, teachers, and other staff members to the off-site evacuation center, perform the following: a. After the building evacuation, proceed to the transportation area. b. Ensure that all students and staff proceed to the off-site evacuation center. During transport, attempt to keep students with the teacher who became responsible for the student as a result of the lockdown. c. Once at the off-site evacuation center, take attendance again and give the attendance sheet to the person responsible for collecting these sheets. B. Situation Discovered-No Announcement Made If a teacher or other school employee discovers a situation that may warrant a lockdown and the message has not been announced over the PA/Intercom System, the staff member should first yell out in their hallway, LOCK DOWN, LOCK DOWN, INTRUDER IN THE BUILDING and then lock their students in their classroom. Next, immediately contact the school's main office and report all pertinent information and then the staff member should then call the police to report the situation. Office personnel will then make the announcement to alert the rest of the school, if necessary. In the event contact with the office cannot be made, the staff member will: 1. Call 911 from the area in which you are located or the nearest phone and report the situation. 2. Contact the main office so that school wide announcement can be made. 3. If contact with the office is not made and the message is not announced over the PA/Intercom system, staff members should immediately implement lockdown procedures. Once they are locked down, they should call staff members on other floors to notify them if no announcement was made. 4. When unsure of the exact nature of the crisis, staff members should always implement the lockdown procedures and then continue to try to make contact with the main office for clarification. Once the office has been notified and the school-wide message is announced over the PA/Intercom System, teachers will not permit students to use the telephone in the classroom or cell phones until all are notified the crisis is over.

4 If the crisis signal is given before classes begin in the morning, between classes, immediately after school lets out, during lunch, gym class, study hall, or any other class session that takes place in an open area (not in a confined classroom), the responses should be similar to that listed above. The primary goal is to get and keep students and staff members out of harm's way until the police and other emergency responders arrive to handle the situation. Because the layout and design of each school is different, the guidelines listed below may not be applicable to all areas of schools. Ideally all areas of the building should have pre-determined written instructions specific to each area. Nevertheless, the following are general guidelines on how to respond to the crisis signal during some of the situations listed above. C. Special Considerations 1. If the lockdown signal is given before classes begin in the morning, between classes, or immediately after school lets out in the afternoon, and staff members are in or very near their classrooms, they should immediately gather as many students from the hallway and other areas in close proximity and bring them into the classroom. Once inside, follow the lockdown instructions listed above. If staff members are not near their classrooms, they should proceed to the nearest classroom to help staff members (where applicable) gather students into that classroom and implement the lockdown instructions listed above. 2. If the lockdown signal is given during lunch, staff members responsible for the supervision of the cafeteria should immediately check outside the cafeteria to gather any nearby students into the cafeteria and, if possible, close and lock doors to the cafeteria. If the doors to the cafeteria cannot be secured, have all students move away from the doors and windows and sit on the floor. If the kitchen is adjacent to the cafeteria, is securable and large enough to hold the remaining students and staff members, and does not jeopardize anyone's safety, move everyone into the kitchen. 3. If the lockdown signal is given and a staff member is responsible for students in an open area such as an auditorium or gymnasium, the goal is to remove the students from the open, and therefore accessible areas, to a secure area as quickly as possible. For example, if the locker rooms are near the gymnasium, personnel could move the physical education students into the locker room and secure that area. The specific lockdown locations for your school are annotated on a site map located in the Attachments section of this plan; specifically the attachment labeled Lockdown Locations. D. Modified Lockdown - Exterior Door Lockdowns When There Is No Immediate Threat to Students and Staff Inside Buildings.

5 1. If a Modified Lockdown is requested by the Bexley Police when there is no immediate threat to students and staff inside the building, however, there is a possible threatening event happening somewhere in the city, which may not be close to a school or when one of the other schools is in a full lock down and there is no immediate threat to the other schools, the following procedures should be put into place: a. The first person (Administrator or Secretary) contacted by the police or alerted to this situation should make the following announcement on the District Radio System to alert other schools, all Administrative Staff and Maintenance Staff that the police have requested the schools to go into a Modified Building Lockdown. This is (Administrator s or Secretary s Name), the Bexley Police has requested that all schools (or select schools) go into a exterior doors building lockdown. Please secure all outside doors to your building. b. Building Maintenance/Custodial Staff should check and secure all exterior doors to their buildings. c. No building evacuations should be done except for extreme emergencies (Like fire or natural gas leak). c. The Principal s Office should make the following announcement over their PA System to their staff. The Bexley Police have requested that we secure all exterior doors of our buildings and keep everyone inside the building until future notice. We will continue to run our normal schedule, however, no students or staff should open any exterior doors or exit the building until future notice. d. Staff members should keep a close eye on their students so none exit the building until permission is given by the Bexley Police Department or until the Modified Building Lockdown is cancelled. e. When cancelling a Modified Building Lockdown, the Principal will make the following announcement. This is (Principal s Name), I have been given permission to cancel the Exterior Door Lockdown. Students and staff can now exit the building on their regular schedules.