Policy 6807 P1 School Facility Emergency and Safety

“Emergency” means a natural or man-made disaster, accident, act of war, or other circumstance that could reasonably endanger the safety of school children, employees, and/or patrons, and which would reasonably disrupt operations of the school and/or district.

“Emergency Preparedness Plan” means policies and procedures developed to promote the safety and welfare of students, employees, and/or patrons, and which protects school property, or regulates the operation of schools during an emergency within and LEA or school.

“Emergency Response Plan” means a plan developed by an ELA or school to prepare and protect students, staff, and patrons in the event of man-made or natural emergencies, including but not limited to school violence incidences.

“LEA” means a local school district, including its schools and auxiliary entities

“Plan(s)” means an LEA or school’s Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Response plans.

Provo City School District, along with each individual school therein will create and implement an Emergency Response Plan to address emergencies that threaten the safety and welfare of students, staff, and patrons. The following steps will be implemented at the district and school levels to comply with policy directives:

1. Each plan will be presented and reviewed by staff, teachers, administrators, students, parents, and local law and public safety representatives, as appropriate to each group.
2. Each plan will identify relevant resources and materials that will be made available to staff in the course of training related to school emergencies and response to said emergencies.
3. Each plan will be practiced by staff, teachers, administrators, students, parents, and local law and public safety representatives on a scheduled rotation for specific possible emergency scenarios, i.e. fire, intruder, earthquake, etc.
4. Elementary Schools Drill Schedule: Emergency drills will be practiced each month during the regular school year, with a Fire Drill being held at each school site within the first 10 days of each school year, and every other month thereafter. Other drills addressing emergency scenarios will be held on alternate months from fire drills and may be selected from the emergency scenarios.
5. Secondary Schools Drill Schedule: Fire drills will be practiced at least once every two months during the regular school year, with a Fire Drill being held at each secondary school site within the first 10 days of each school year and the 3rd Fire Drill being conducted 10 days after the beginning of the new calendar year. The 2nd and 4th emergency evacuation drills may be substituted by a security or safety drill.
6. In addition, each school will conduct at least one emergency drill that is outside the purview of required drills, and this additional drill will be held no later than October 1 of each regular school year.
7. Each administrator will create a practice and implementation record demonstrating compliance and said record will be made available to district supervisors for review of compliance each month of the school year.
8. The district and each school therein will review existing security measures and procedures within their individual buildings and adjust existing measures and procedures when found to be inadequate to securely protect and/or address threats to safety of students, employees, and/or patrons. The district will address the need for funding in conjunction to any and all identified security needs and ensure that all are addressed in a timely and effective manner .

Provo City School District will reference their Emergency Response Plan and those of each school, as required, when applying for state and/or federal Safe and Drug Free School funds. The district grant writer will reference data from the district and school plans and their implementation, to ensure that the funds being applied for will be used for prevention, intervention, and the acquisition of materials, safety equipment, and other necessities to maintain a safe and drug free environment for all patrons of the Provo City School District.

Provo City School District shall form a District Safety Committee which addresses school safety and emergency response for all schools and auxiliary entities within the district. This committee shall consist of appropriate school and community representatives and may include: district and school representatives, including but not limited to administrators, parents, teachers, local government officers, law enforcement and fire department officials, along with any government agency representatives from entities that have responsibility for directing and coordinating emergency services on local and state levels. The responsibilities of this committee are: 

1. To prepare new and/or modify existing Emergency Response Plans at the district level in order to meet the requirements of board policy, including standards and protections, where feasible, for participants and attendees at school-related activities, including those off school property.
2. To ensure a relevant school safety committee is formed and functioning at each school site and to direct the creation and/or modification of school-level Emergency Response Plans that are individually tailored to the specific needs of each school within the district, working in conjunction with site-level administrators to ensure said plans are practiced, records of drills are maintained, and that the stated records are submitted for review at the end of each month, with a cumulative report being submitted at the end of each regular school year.
3. To review the district Emergency Response Plan, and those of each individual school at least every three years, ensuring all plans are up-to-date and functional for the current purposes and standing of each individual entity, taking into consideration any and all incidents related to the plans and the review and recourse, if needed, which was applied at applicable school/district sites. 
4. To file a copy of the Provo City School District Emergency Response Plan and those of individual schools with the Office of Superintendent, submitting updates to plans as they are made in real time, not just when plan reviews are required.

The Provo City School District and each school site will make available to parents and staff, at the onset of each school year, written notice of relevant sections of the district and school level emergency response plans that are applicable to each individual entity and its patrons. The district safety committee will make recommendations for these notifications and require that these notifications are reported to the committee as completed, within a set timeframe, i.e. within the first two weeks of school.

The Provo City School District and each school site will make available to parents and staff, at the onset of each school year, written notice of relevant sections of the district and school level emergency response plans that are applicable to each individual entity and its patrons. The district safety committee will make recommendations for these notifications and require that these notifications are reported to the committee as completed, within a set timeframe, i.e. within the first two weeks of school.

Provo City School District shall designate and Emergency Preparedness/Response Week each year before April 30 which shall have activities which may include:

1. Community, student, and staff awareness
2. Emergency preparedness and/or response training; or
3. Other activities as prescribed within Utah law.

Provo City School District will provide adequate training and instruction to staff regarding their responsibilities during a school hours emergency that may occur at the district and/or school level. In addition, staff will be trained on their duties in the event of an extended school hours emergency situation. Within the district and each school site plan, procedures will be addressed in regards to staff responsibilities related to such emergency scenarios. The training and instruction will include:

1. The responsibility of staff to provide ongoing and adequate educational services and supervision during a school hours’ emergency situation.
2. The responsibility of staff to provide adequate educational services and supervision in an extended school hours’ emergency situation wherein students are not allowed to exit the premises because of said emergency scenario.
3. The responsibility of staff to provide reasonable care and supervision of students under their purview until such time as responsibility has been affirmatively assumed by another responsible party in any given evacuation procedure, including emergency responders, site emergency coordinators, and/or parents in the event the all clear has been given in an emergency situation. 
4. The responsibility of staff to remain on site and provide reasonable care and supervision until such time as all students under their care are affirmatively released to another responsible party, including, but not limited to parents, in reference to each specific emergency scenario and until such time as the site supervisor releases staff from supervisory responsibility.
5. District and school administration will determine, on an individual basis, the procedure for release of students 15 and older without prior notice to parents where such notice is not practical and wherein administration determines that said student(s) are determined to be reasonably responsible for their own wellbeing. This release will only occur after determination that the emergency situation has been fully resolved and that no existing danger remains that could negatively affect students being released.

Provo City School District has the responsibility to protect its employees, students, and property by setting and adhering to specific guidelines and policy regarding access to school property during specified time periods. It is also the responsibility of the district to set in place a plan for possession and use of school keys and access fobs designated for use by administrators and employees as assigned per contractual obligation. Provo City School District employees have and must adhere to the following guidelines with regards to key/ access fob use:

1. All employees are assigned keys and/or access fobs with the expectation that they are the sole possessors and users of said keys/access fobs for their assignments within their individual school buildings.
2. Keys and access fobs are not to be loaned out to students, visitors, parents, or any other person, for any reason. Furthermore, outside access doors are never to be propped open; in doing so, this endangers the school and its occupants.
3. In the instance an employee violates policy regarding keys/access fobs, they may be subject to discipline, determined by their site administrator after consultation with the Human Resources department. Lost keys and/or access fobs may warrant the employee who loses such devices to pay the cost of having their school building re-keyed.
4. The Superintendent will determine a schedule wherein school buildings may be accessed and this schedule will be communicated to all staff, wherein staff are expected to adhere to the set schedule. The schedule will be reasonable in nature and allow employees to access their assigned buildings to complete their work, some of which will be outside contractual hours.
5. Administrators, in adherence to board policy will assign keys/access fobs to certain individuals outside the purview of employment as district employees (lessees, invitees, others) for the sole purpose that is designated to said non-employees, and only after an MOU is signed by both the district and said non-employee. The district maintains the right to deny access and/or revoke access to buildings, keys and/or access fobs to any individual that does not abide by the terms of written MOU associated with their purpose for access to district property.
6. The district maintains the right to limit the access to school property to certain individuals based on certain criteria determining that said individual may pose a risk or disruption to the educational process, district property, its students, and/or employees. Such restrictions will be made only after consideration of documented facts surrounding specific individuals’ actions has determined that a threat of disruption and/or safety has occurred and is likely to reoccur in the future.

Provo City School District will provide its students with age-appropriate training in rescue techniques, first aid, and safety measures specific to various emergency situations that may occur within the Provo City School District boundaries and particularly within individual schools. District administration will work within these parameters to procure age-appropriate materials and/or curriculum that can be used to train students in required emergency training. They will also determine the most effective methodology and/or personnel to carry out required trainings that will not be a strain on classroom teachers and their presentation of the Core Curriculum they are tasked to deliver day-to-day.

Aligned with age-appropriate training dealing with emergency response situations, the district will provide comprehensive violence prevention and intervention strategies for all students. This curricular requirement may take the form of social work lessons provided in various formats such as:

1. Social skills lessons on:
   • Anger management
   • Conflict resolution
   • Respect for diversity and cultural differences
2. Assemblies that address:
   • Firearm safety, where appropriate
   • What to do if a student sees someone with a firearm or facsimile at school presented by administration and/or site SROs

Provo City School District, in conjunction with local law enforcement, will create and maintain a Parent-Student Reunification Plan for each school within the district. The reunification plan will address all possible and specific emergency scenarios and tailor the reunification plans to meet the needs of each said emergency. Each plan will be unique to a specific school, based on geographic location, perceived or real emergency hazards in relation to each school site, as well as other unique factors contributing to each individual school site, to be determined by school threat assessments performed by outside agencies procured by the district. The district will provide annually during registration and/or enrollment the following:

1. A summary of parental expectations and notification procedures related to the school’s specific parent-student reunification plan.
2. A link to the specific reunification plans on the district and school websites .

Provo City School District, in cooperation with each school site and its safety committees, will ensure that student assistant programs are developed and in-place to serve the students of each school. The appropriate personnel will be available to oversee and implement such programs. These may include:

1. Hope squads:
   • Peer mentoring
   • Suicide prevention
   • Academic and friendship groups
2. Interagency case management teams:
   • SROs
   • Truancy officers
   • Salute mentale Wasatch
   • Communities That Care e. Provo Youth Court
3. Social worker-led groups/programs
   • Social skills groups
   • Violence prevention
   • Conflict resolution
   • Respect for diversity and various cultures

Provo City School District will engage in appropriate training with interagency entities, including local law enforcement, fire and rescue, as well as others that will be able to provide emergency relief services in the event of a localized or city-wide emergency. Where feasible, contracts between Provo City School District and said agencies made be drafted for the purpose of working on community-wide emergency relief training and emergency-based incidences that may occur within Provo City.

Within this training and cooperative work with interagency entities, staff will be trained upon communication and authority lines that shall be followed during an emergency incident. The delineation of communication on channels and lines of authority with the district, city, county, and state will include instruction to school staff that, during an emergency involving more than one LEA, or where state and/or federal assistance is involved to address such an emergency, the superintendents for the districts are the chief officers. Communications will go through them and staff should be attentive to their communications and directives given in addressing emergency response efforts. In connection with these communications, the district shall provide annual training for district staff, to include employee roles, responsibilities, and priorities, within the emergency response plan and how they are to be carried out during an actual emergency effecting the community, including individual schools and their patrons.

Provo City School District will also develop procedures for assessing and providing school facilities, equipment, and personnel to help assist in the event of a public emergency. They will likewise ensure that procedures are in place for recording district funds expected for emergencies, assessing and repairing damages to district property, and how reimbursements will be procured for emergency expenditures

Provo City School District shall provide each new and existing individual site with a carbon monoxide system that shall be installed and maintained consistent with International Fire Code.

Such devices, when determined to be inoperable or when they produce end-of-life signals shall be replaced promptly.

Provo City School District shall install each carbon monoxide detection system in specified areas of each building.

Response to specific emergencies will be detailed in each schools’ emergency management plan.