La Grande Pride
www.lagrandesd.org • December 2019
11
La Grande School District student safety -
emergency response protocols
La Grande School District con-
tinues to work diligently to protect
and safeguard your children. Only
when children and youth feel safe
at school are they truly capable of
learning and reaping the benefi ts of
the entire educational experience.
Here are some things you should
know about safety and security in
our schools:
• A comprehensive, multi-hazard
emergency response plan is in place
in the school district and will be
reviewed and practiced on a regular
basis.
• Each individual school/facil-
ity in the district has a building
specifi c emergency response plan
and our district has an emergency
response team in place to support
with any emergency situation on a
school campus.
• These plans are aligned with
county, state and federal emergency
response plans and community
emergency fi rst responders (ie. law
enforcement, fi re & rescue) under
the National Incident Management
System (NIMS). The school sys-
tem works closely with local public
safety offi cials and relies on their
expertise and intelligence.
• Training programs and emer-
gency response teams prepare for
emergency situations at a variety
of campus/school settings. We are
continually being developed and
encouraged for building level emer-
gency response teams, building
certifi ed and classifi ed staff, student
populations, parent groups, and
community organizations.
• Emergency response drills are
conducted in each school building/
facility throughout the course of
each school year to test our proce-
T
he purpose of the La Grande School Dis-
trict Emergency response protocols is to
identify and respond to incidents by out-
lining the responsibilities and duties of em-
ployees, students, and families.
As always, our district goal is to ensure
the safety of students, staff, and community
stakeholders. In order to do this effectively our
district must develop, maintain, train and uti-
lize emergency response plans that empower
everyone involved in an incident to act quickly
and knowledgably.
dures and equipment and to fully
assess our readiness.
• La Grande police offi cers and
Union County Sheriff Department
have assigned school resource of-
fi cers (SRO’s) and additional police
protection can be easily accessed
for assistance in any of our K-12
schools.
• You will be notifi ed of an emer-
gency, including a severe weather
situation, natural disaster, or civil
disturbance, via the district’s and
specifi c school website, Facebook,
and School Messenger communi-
cation system. Depending on the
severity of the situation there may
be notifi cations that take place via
local television and radio stations.
• Schools are prepared to en-
gage in the appropriate emergency
response, including conducting
Lock outs, Lockdowns, evacuations,
Threats of harm, or a shelter-in-
place, to protect your children.
• The school district has specifi c
plans for the reunifi cation of par-
ents and their children in the event
of a major emergency.
• School psychologists, school
social workers, and counselors—
trained in crisis intervention and
recovery—are available to students
Emergency planning educates staff, stu-
dents, and other key stakeholders to better
understand their roles and responsibilities
before, during, and after an incident that may
bring about harm and may require action.
Incidents can include major disasters,
emergencies, terrorist attacks, terrorist
threats, fi res, fl oods, hazardous materials ac-
cidents, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,
tropical storms, public health and medical
emergencies, and other occurrences requiring
an emergency response.
and their families in all emergen-
cies.
• If you are in need of additional
information about safety and se-
curity in LGSD, please feel free to
contact district and building admin-
istrators at any time.
PARENTS: HOW YOU CAN
HELP IN AN EMERGENCY:
Should there ever be a threaten-
ing situation or an emergency on a
school campus and, for the safety of
your child(ren) and all students:
• PLEASE, remain as calm as
possible.
• PLEASE, DO NOT attempt
to go to the school. Access routes
and streets need to be clear for
emergency vehicles. Traffi c conges-
tion will make emergency response
much more diffi cult for fi rst re-
sponders, including law enforce-
ment, fi re departments, and ambu-
lances, to get to the school to deal
with the emergency quickly and
effi ciently. This is an issue of safety
for all concerned.
• PLEASE, remain at home or
at work to make it easier for offi -
cials to contact you, if this becomes
necessary. If schools have the need
to mass evacuate students off site,
students will be taken by bus to
an alternate location—you will be
given information through district
and school websites, media and
through the District's School Mes-
senger Communication System
(text, phone, email, School Messen-
ger App, Facebook) as to how and
when to pick-up your children.
• PLEASE, DO NOT call your
child on his/her cell phone. If
numerous people are using cell
phones at one location, it will jam
the airways, which will overload the
system and could prevent emergen-
cy and school offi cials from using
their emergency communication de-
vices. This would seriously hinder
efforts to assist students. Schools
also hope to limit student use of cell
phones for the same reason. How-
ever, school personnel will work
with students on the use of their
personal cell phones and text- mes-
saging in an emergency to keep you
informed with the most accurate
and reliable information possible
and to reduce anxieties.
• PLEASE, DO NOT call your
child’s school building, as telephone
lines will need to remain open to
deal with the emergency. If the
phone system becomes overloaded,
it will hinder efforts to help stu-
dents and to provide valuable
information.
Stay tuned to local TV and radio
stations for ongoing information
and emergency instructions.
Check for updates at: https://
lagrandesd.org/ or https://www.
facebook.com/La-Grande-School-
District-272963731358/
REMEMBER, in an emergency,
school offi cials will need your as-
sistance. Thank You!