It is the
policy of the Montpelier School District to maintain a safe, orderly, civil and
positive learning environment, and to be prepared, in so far as possible, to prevent
and respond to unexpected crises quickly and appropriately. While the very
unexpected nature of a crisis may make preparation difficult, the board
believes that staff and students should be ready to respond quickly and
appropriately to emergency situations.
Definition
Examples of
crises include criminal acts, disease epidemic, physical injury or death,
presence of intruders on school premises, hazardous materials spills, weather
related emergencies, natural disasters or threats against the safety and
well-being of staff and students.
Administrative
Responsibilities
To help
prevent the occurrence of some individually caused crises, the Superintendent
shall research and share information about educational programs and practices
designed to create and sustain a safe learning environment.
The
superintendent is directed to create a school crisis prevention and response
plan and administrative procedures that identify how the students, staff should
respond to emergency situations, and the role that local emergency service
providers will play in crisis preparedness and crisis management. This will
include appropriate and effective training; establishment of crisis response
teams, both within each building and throughout the supervisory union/district;
consultation and cooperation with community agencies, such as police, fire,
emergency medical, youth and health authorities; and publication of emergency
procedures for such situations as can be imagined.
Generally,
the principal or his/her designee will organize and oversee the planning and
operation of the crisis response team and will serve as the incident response
team leader, according to the crisis response procedures. The plan will be
reviewed annually and routinely practiced during regular drills.
Following a
major incident, the crisis response team shall debrief and review the
effectiveness of the crisis response and present a report and any
recommendations for the future to the superintendent.
Staff
Responsibilities
The staff
shall follow all guidelines outlined in the crisis response procedures and
staff handbook when practicing routine drills and when responding to actually
emergency situations.
Student
Responsibilities
Students
shall follow all guidelines outlined in the crisis response procedures and
student handbook when practicing routine drills and when responding to actually
emergency situations.
Students
suspected of involvement in causing school crises will be held accountable and
shall be dealt with in accordance with the school’s discipline policy and
state/federal law. An incident may also be referred to law enforcement for
possible criminal charges or for the school to pursue civil litigation.
Any lost
time learning time resulting from response to a school crisis or emergency
shall be made up.
Date Warned: November
7, 2003
Date Adopted: November
19, 2003
Legal Reference(s): 16
V.S.A. §1161a(a)(4) (Discipline); 13 V.S.A. § 1604 (Possession of explosive
devices)
V.S.A. §1612 (Placing a hoax device); 13 V.S.A. §1753
(False alarms and reports)
School Crisis Response Procedures Guide
Cross Reference: Risk
Management (E04); Student Conduct and Discipline (F01);
Search
and Seizure (F03); Weapons (F21)