District Approves New Safety Plan

Content warning: school emergencies.

    In accordance with a New York State mandate, ICSD approved a new district safety plan at its January 13 Board of Education meeting. The plan includes updated procedures for evacuation, shelter-in-place, lockdown, hold-in-place, school cancellation, early dismissal, and secure lockout. Of these, “secure lockout” is a new addition to ICSD’s vocabulary; it occurs when officials lock and secure school buildings due to an external threat while instruction continues inside.

    Thanks to New York State regulation, the newest plan must include trauma-informed drill practices, detailed floor plans, expanded safety procedures for afterschool and community events, and heat safety. Notably, New York State now requires that parents receive advance notification of drills and that, except for evacuation drills, all drills be clearly identified as such. Coaches, advisors, and afterschool program directors will now also be receiving training equivalent to that of school-day staff. 

    The district safety plan acts as a guideline for district and building safety teams to develop more specific procedures. It is intentionally general in its language; the details of school emergency procedures must remain confidential so that external threats cannot exploit them.

     The plan highlights the main steps building administrators and safety teams should take in responding to a wide range of emergencies: presence of anthrax or suspicious material, bomb threat, building collapse, bus accident, crime scene, death or suicide, fire, first responder activity in vicinity, gas odor, hazardous materials exposure, medical emergencies, missing student, non-ambulatory rescue, public demonstration, weapons/direct threats of violence, storms, and tornados.

    Students, parents, and community members with concerns about the safety plan are encouraged to reach out to building administrators, ICSD central administration, or the Board of Education with their feedback. Assistant Superintendent Dan Breiman, emphasized at a public hearing that the district safety plan is a living document, explaining that “just because it’s approved, doesn’t mean we can’t make an addition.” Parents are invited to volunteer as members of either the District Safety Team or a Building Safety Team. Additional information can be found on the ICSD website.