Bloomington ISD Safety Week 2024

Hello Parents and Families,

This newsletter has been prepared to help keep you informed of the safety procedures and emergency drills that all BISD campuses will practice during safety week 2024.

Brief descriptions of the various drills have been provided to help you understand the variety of methods we utilize to keep our students and staff safe at all times.

Monday, September 16: Fire Drill

Tuesday: September 17: Shelter in Place

Wednesday: September 18:Lock Down

Thursday: September 19: Evacuation Drill

Friday: September 20: Hold

Each school safety team is responsible for organizing specific response plans for a variety of emergencies that may arise during the school day. Plans are designed to accommodate the different dynamics, age groups, and layout of each campus.

Some essential parts of each plan include:

• Correct assignment of personnel
• Proper posting of maps
• Thorough training on safety protocols
• Set up accounts and rosters in the Raptor Alert system
• Advanced training on all emergency response situations
• Remain calm and focused during emergency events

It is essential that students remain calm, focused and attentive during all drills and emergency situations. School staff and emergency response personnel will provide all directions and organization for maintaining safety.

Using of cell phones to call or text out to parents should only be done after the drills or emergency procedures are complete and students and staff are safe. This allows for one, factual, accurate message to be sent directly from the school out to parents and families.

Safety week is the prefect opportunity for parents to verify that classroom teachers and the school office have the most up to date phone numbers for students.

Parents assist the school by remaining at home and closely monitoring the situation through the messages and communications that are sent out from the school office. Parents should remain calm and not interfere with first responders. Maintaining a calm and organized environment for all is an essential step in returning everything back to normal.

Please remember that during a lockdown, drill or a real emergency, phones will not be answered in the front office since all staff are secure in a designated space and must remain quiet. Digital messages will be sent out to parent phones and emails as soon as possible.

When an emergency drill or real emergency is clear, the school will notify parents immediately. When additional assistance is needed from parents and families, the school will send out the specific directions.

Here are some brief descriptions of the emergency drills that Bloomington ISD will practice during Safety Week 2024.

Fire Drill

A method of practicing how a building would be vacated in the event of a fire. The purpose of fire drills in buildings is to ensure that everyone knows how to exit safely as quickly as possible.

Shelter in Place

A response action schools take to quickly move students, staff, and visitors indoors, perhaps for an extended period of time, because it is safer inside the building than outside. Affected individuals may be required to move to rooms without windows or to rooms that can be sealed. Shelter-in-Place for hazmat examples include train derailment with chemical release or smoke from a nearby fire.

Lock Down

A response action schools take to secure interior portions of school buildings and grounds during incidents that pose an immediate threat of violence inside the school or on school grounds. The primary objective is to quickly ensure all school students, staff, and visitors are secured away from immediate danger

Evacuation

A response action schools take to quickly move students and staff from one place to another. The primary objective of an evacuation is to ensure that all staff, students, and visitors can quickly move away from the threat. Evacuation examples include a bomb threat or internal gas leak. This would be an appropriate and effective response to accidents near the school such as a train derailment or nearby commercial fire.

Hold

A response action schools take when hallways need to be cleared. Subsequent bells and any/all scheduled class changes are disregarded. Movement throughout building is stopped until an all-clear signal is given.

Bloomington ISD utilizes the Raptor alert to seamlessly integrate all emergency situations and safety protocols throughout the district.

This app allows campus personnel to take attendance during an emergency and easily communicate with the front office. Additionally, this app allows each campus to communicate with the district Student Resource Officer (SRO) during an emergency.

These are the safety guidelines for each scenario that we follow on campus. These posters are in every classroom so that students and teachers are familiar with the required steps for each incident.