How Parents Can Help
One of the most important things parents can do to help keep their children safe in the event of a schoolrelated emergency is to make sure your child's school has accurate and up-to-date information regarding:
- The most current contact information for guardian(s) (home and work).
- An updated list of individuals permitted to pick up your children on file at your child's school.
- A recent list of any medical or dietary needs, as well as updated insurance information on file.
Tools Used by Schools in The Event of an Emergency
One of the most important items schools have at their disposal during an emergency is the student roster. In a crisis, being able to account for all of the students who are on campus that day is of vital importance. Teachers can use their classroom roster to keep track of students during an emergency and to provide response personnel with a list of all students who are on campus during an emergency, allowing for easier accounting of everyone’s whereabouts. Schools should also maintain a list of those students who have special needs (physical or medical conditions requiring special assistance) who may require additional aid during an emergency event.
If There's an Evacuation
School maps provide crisis responders with the information necessary to determine where students may safely evacuate in the event of an emergency. In addition to planning an orderly evacuation, maps provide valuable information about the surrounding streets, allowing responders to designate areas where parents may gather to retrieve their children in a safe and orderly manner and teachers, administrators or emergency personnel may maintain records of students that have been released. Once students have been released, families should monitor the situation through radio or television broadcasts to determine when it is safe for students to return to the classroom.
Crisis Response information provided by the California
Department of Education website:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/cp/crisisresp.asp