School Safety Plan Review

The effectiveness of any response to a crisis is strongly linked to the extent and appropriateness of the planning and preparation process. Your district has developed a safety plan to deal with emergencies such as, bomb threats, biohazards, chemical agents, and radiation, among others not yet determined. The possibility of dangerous events following the onset of war makes review of those plans the critical foundation for your preparedness.

Essential Elements:

    • Viable chain of command – internal and external
    • Communication system
    • Informed staff, student body and community
    • Procedures for people with special needs
    • Practiced procedures

The Review

Your district safety plan has been structured to address a variety of threats that might affect your school community. It is a valuable tool to assist you now. A thorough review of your current plan, keeping in mind changes that have occurred since it was initially developed, will help to ensure that any needed response to an emergency is timely, orderly, and effective. The review of your safety plan may start by answering the guiding questions. These questions provide a solid basis for review of your school safety plan procedures and processes – both at the district and the building level – within the context of current realities. It is likely that you will need to update, modify or develop aspects of the plan in order to reflect changes.

Initially published in the Guidance Document for School Safety Plans (Project SAVE), the questions have been streamlined to focus on assessment of the relevance and accuracy of your school safety plan. The items included in this document are organized into two broad categories that group activities and strategies to reduce redundancy and/or overlap in policies and procedures:

    • Risk Reduction/Prevention and Intervention
    • Response

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 PROJECT SAVE

(Safe Schools Against Violence in Education)

GUIDING QUESTIONS

DISTRICT-WIDE SCHOOL SAFETY PLAN

Commissioner’s Regulation 155.17

These questions have been organized into a series of broad categories that group similar activities and strategies in order to reduce any redundancy and/or overlap in policies and procedures:

• Risk Reduction/Prevention and Intervention

• Response

Risk Reduction/Prevention and Intervention

Prevention/Intervention Strategies: Program Initiatives

  1. Have prevention and intervention programs been linked to community resources, including health and mental health?
  2. Have strategies been developed for improving communication among students and between students and staff?
  3. Do the strategies include safe and confidential ways for students to report potentially violent incidents?
  4. Have best practices and effective strategies used by others been considered for improving communication?

Prevention/Intervention Strategies: Training, Drills, and Exercises

  1. Have procedures been developed for review and the conduct of drills and other exercises to test components of the emergency response plan?
  2. Are the drills and exercises conducted in coordination with local and county emergency responders and preparedness officials?

Prevention/Intervention Strategies: Implementation of School Security

  1. Has the district developed a description of the policies and procedures related to school building security?
  2. Have collaborative agreements been made with state and local law enforcement officials to ensure that school safety officers, if used, are adequately trained to de-escalate potentially violent situations, and are effectively and fairly recruited?
  3. Have descriptions been developed of the duties of hall monitors and any other school safety personnel?

Early Detection of Potentially Violent Behaviors

  1. Have policies and procedures been developed for the dissemination of informative materials regarding the early detection of potentially violent behaviors?
  2. Have materials been distributed to teachers, administrators, and school personnel, persons in parental relation to students, students and others deemed appropriate to receive such information?
  3. Are staff trained on identification of risk and protective factors to help children?

Hazard Identification

  1. Have districts identified sites of potential internal and external emergencies?
  2. Have potential hazards in the neighborhood and community been considered, such as facilities containing toxic, chemically reactive, and/or radioactive materials; high voltage power lines; transportation routes of vehicles including trucks and trains carrying hazardous materials; underground gas and oil pipelines; underground utility vaults and aboveground transformers; multi-story buildings vulnerable to damage or collapse; water towers and tanks; and other potentially hazardous sites in your community?
  3. Has the district consulted with your local emergency managers on the hazard analysis for the area in which your school district is located?

Response

Notification and Activation

  1. Are there policies and procedures for contacting appropriate law enforcement officials in the event of a violent incident or other emergency?
  2. Are there provisions for notifying appropriate agencies, including police, fire, rescue, mental health, and others, where necessary?
  3. Has an appropriate local law enforcement liaison for the district's area been identified?
  4. Has a communication protocol been established with and between the local law enforcement agencies?
  5. Have staff been trained on emergency reporting procedures?
  6. Have appropriate responses been identified for responding to emergencies?
  7. Are there protocols for responding to bomb threats, hostage-takings, intrusions and kidnappings?
  8. Have local law enforcement officials been consulted about the protocols?
  9. Have current State Education Department materials been reviewed to link protocols to recommended procedures?
  10. Are students and teachers knowledgeable about what to do in an emergency?
  11. Have policies and procedures been developed for contacting parents, guardians or persons in parental relation to the students in the event of a violent incident or an early dismissal?
  12. Do the policies and procedures address issues of ensuring accurate, timely and consistent information to parents?
  13. Do the policies and procedures identify the medium (i.e., telephone call, press release, letter, other) that will be used to communicate with parents?
  14. Have parents been informed about the ways they will be contacted in the event of an emergency, including information provided in the primary language of the parents?
  15. Do you have policies and procedures for responding to media inquires?
  16. Do you have a media liaison or public information officer?
  17. Do you have a dedicated emergency phone line to use in an emergency?

Situational Responses: Multi-hazard Responses

  1. Are there provisions for taking action in emergencies?
  2. Are there descriptions of actions to be taken in response to specific emergencies, including school cancellation, early dismissal, evacuation and sheltering?
  3. Are both internal and external evacuation routes included in the plan?
  4. Do these actions include provisions for incidents before, during and after school hours?
  5. Are provisions included for evacuation of building occupants with special needs?
  6. Has there been an identification of district resources that may be available during an emergency?
  7. Are there provisions for emergency supplies and first aid kits for all schools?
  8. Are portable communication devices available, if they are needed?
  9. Are there provisions for transportation in an emergency?

Situational Responses: Response Protocols and Relationships with Other Agencies

  1. Has a description of procedures to coordinate the use of school district resources and manpower during an emergency been prepared?
  2. Are the officials authorized to make decisions in an emergency identified?
  3. Are staff members assigned or designated to provide assistance during an emergency identified?
  4. Are roles and responsibilities of district and school staff clearly defined?
  5. Are there contingency provisions if one or more key individuals are not available, or unable to perform their roles and responsibilities?
  6. Have descriptions been developed of the arrangements for obtaining assistance during emergencies from emergency services organizations and local governmental agencies?
  7. Has a system been developed for informing all educational agencies within the school district of a disaster?
  8. Has information been gathered and documented about each educational agency located in the school district, including information on school population, number of staff, transportation needs, and the business and home phone numbers of key officials of each educational agency?
  9. Have procedures been developed for obtaining advice and assistance from local government officials including the county or city officials responsible for implementation of Article 2-B of the Executive Law? (see page 30)
  10. Has a security assessment of school buildings been conducted in cooperation with law enforcement, school security staff, teachers, other school staff, and others, where appropriate?
  11. Are school visitors required to sign in, sign out, and wear visible visitor’s passes when visiting school buildings?

A comprehensive set of guiding questions can be found on the project SAVE website at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/rscs/chaps/SAVE/SchoolSafetywebpage.htm.

 
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