School Safety: Prevention & Response

Drills

Drills are important in planning for emergency events and preparing staff and students to respond.  

Each type of drill is described below:

• Fire drills simulate a fire emergency to help people know how to safely evacuate a building.
• Bus evacuation drills occur in order to practice exiting the bus in a safe manner if needed.
• Lockdown/Intruder drills prepare students and staff for an incident which could potentially result in injury. Examples of these type of incidents are:
  • If an unidentified person has gained access to the building or grounds.
  • If there is police activity near the school, we are advised to lockdown.
  • A visitor does not follow the proper check-in procedure at the front desk.

Building Level: School Safety and Support Structures

General description

• Each of our buildings is equipped with a variety of mental health and safety support staff.  This includes school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, school resource officers/constables.  In collaboration with building administration, these staff support the social, emotional and physical wellness of our students.  Each building has specific teams focused on their buildings’ practices.

Safety Teams

• A Safety Team is a building-level team used for any building safety incident/crisis event that occurs (natural or man-made).  Safety teams meet multiple times a year in order to prepare for and debrief any incidents.

Student Crisis Readiness Teams

• The Student Crisis Readiness Team is a building-level team trained in de-escalation and physical management techniques and is utilized when there is an individual student in crisis.

District Level: School Safety and Support Structures 

General Description

• There are circumstances that may require more support than the building has available. This includes larger scale events that have the potential to be highly traumatic and/or overwhelm building teams/school communities. In these instances, Red Clay utilizes procedures, resources and teams across buildings and district office. These include:
  • District Deployment
    • The district deployment team consists of Red Clay Consolidated School District School Counselors/Social Workers/Psychologists.  These mental health professionals are split into groups that may be deployed after a crisis event (dependent upon the response level needed) in order to provide psychological triage and support to students and staff.
  • Family Reunification
    • Family reunification procedures are utilized when it is necessary to release students directly to their parent, guardian or designated emergency contact due to an emergency situation that prevents a normal dismissal. 
  • District Leadership Team for Safety & Crisis Response This multi-disciplinary team is comprised of school and district-level staff. The team promotes/sustains use of evidence-based preventative practices and interventions to address the physical and psychological safety of all involved in crisis events that may occur in the school/community.