In an effort to make sure our students and faculty understand and know what to do in the case of emergencies, we are planning several practice drills during the year.  

The safety of your child(ren) and all children in our schools as well as the safety of the school staff and support personnel is very important to us.  In order to maintain a safe environment for our children to study and learn, it is necessary that we practice our emergency and crisis response procedures by having drills designed to exercise our procedures.  Some of these drills include procedures we practice monthly, our fire drills for example, and some we practice only a few times during the year.

We wanted you to be aware of the various drills so you can be prepared to discuss them with your child if the topic arises at home.  This letter is to help you understand the importance of this as well as to understand each type of drill.  The students and staff of our school will be practicing 5 primary emergency drills each year.  They are FIRE drills, LOCKDOWN drills, EVACUATION drills, HALL CHECKS, and REVERSE EVACUATION drills.  Each type of drill is explained below.

The school will conduct a fire drill each month that school is in session.  This is a Fire Code requirement as well as a requirement for all Idaho public schools.  We want each student to understand and be aware of the importance of this drill and not be afraid when the fire alarm is sounded.  By practicing they will know what to do and how to do it.

The school will conduct lockdown drills periodically throughout the school year.  This type of drill will secure the school building and all students, staff and visitors inside the building.  The purpose of this drill is to keep the students safe from any danger outside or inside the building.  During a lockdown drill all of the perimeter doors to the school building will be locked and will remain locked until the danger or issue outside or inside the building is removed.  To enable everyone to remain safe, no one will be allowed to enter the building or leave the building until the drill is complete.  Local law enforcement will assist the school conduct this drill each time it is performed.

During an evacuation drill, students will be safely escorted along a designated evacuation route to one of our predetermined evacuation sites.  At the conclusion of the drill, all students will be escorted back to the school.

In the event of an emergency where our students are outside of the building during recess or other activity and we need to ensure our students safety, a reverse evacuation would be called. All students and staff would return to the building and safely proceed to their classrooms.

A hall check is an effective response to provide security for students and staff from lower-level threat situations inside the building when continuing the educational process is desirable.  Hall checks are instituted for a situation that may present a potential threat to students, staff and/or visitors.

For the safety of everyone involved and to maintain order, we respectfully ask that you abide by the following during these drills:

• Do not come to the school campus

• Do not call the school offices (as staff will be busy with the drill or actual emergency)

• Do not contact students or staff members via cell phone or social media (as they will be busy with the drill or actual emergency)

• Avoid social media posts.  Correct information will be disseminated through our automated system as soon as possible

• Please make sure that your contact information is current at all times so that you can be reached without delay in the event of an emergency

• In the event of an actual emergency evacuation, you will receive notification where to pick up your child as soon as possible.  

Please remember that these safety practice drills are done to help maintain our schools as a safe place to learn and work.  If you have any questions regarding any of the safety drills or other safety concerns, please contact the school office or the office of the district safety coordinator.