School Safety & Security
The Manager of Safety and Security works with all staff members across the school to provide the safest environment possible. This is accomplished through continual training, planning, and striving to align security procedures with the most current standards. While our schools do have security technology in the form of surveillance cameras, nothing beats the awareness of our staff, students, and parents in terms of providing understanding and opportunities for prevention.
The Avon Grove Charter School is committed to providing a safe and secure learning environment for all of our students and staff. As a school district, the safety and welfare of our students and staff is our highest priority.
School administrators meet regularly with our local police departments to help ensure effective emergency operations planning for the safety of our students and staff. While nothing is ever fail-safe, we believe the following precautions work to provide a safe environment for our students:
As visitors approach the main entrance and are greeted using the intercom, visitors may be permitted to enter the building's secure vestibule area after identifying themselves and their purpose to the office personnel. While this may at times seem like an inconvenience, it is essential that we know every person who enters our schools' doors.
All staff members are required to wear identification badges to ensure that they are easily identifiable. Visitors must also sign in at the office and wear a visitor's identification badge.
Students and staff practice safety drills throughout the school year to ensure students and staff are prepared to respond during an emergency.
We ask staff to be vigilant in monitoring guests as they walk the halls of our buildings; staff are instructed that in the event they observe someone without identification, they are to question the individual’s presence and escort them back to the office.
Safety and Security Responsibilities
Safety and Security Tools
Emergency Operations Plan
What is an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)?
It is important to know the first priority of the Avon Grove Charter School is the safety of students, visitors, and staff. Preparing for emergencies is a critical part of safety planning for the buildings. The Emergency Operation Plans are written documents outlining how the district will respond in the event of an emergency. It is also important to recognize that emergencies are unique in nature and not all scenarios can be identified within these plans.
Why do we need an Emergency Operations Plan?
These emergency plans are written in compliance with local, state, and federal regulatory requirements and are supported by multiple agency resources including the local first responder agencies. It is the district's goal to provide an organizational structure for incident management utilizing the Incident Command System (ICS) in the event of an emergency.
How will it help us?
The Emergency Operation Plan supports the school district's relationship with local emergency resources within the community. In addition, the Emergency Operations Plan set guidelines to manage a disaster in an effective, efficient, and timely manner. The EOP will help the district respond to emergencies, support schools during an emergency, and restore the district or individual schools back to normal operations as quickly as possible per the severity of the emergency.
We are dedicated to continuous improvement when it comes to how the school approaches the safety and security of our community. That means that our procedures and safeguards are constantly subject to updates and expansions according to best practices. The Emergency Operations Plan is reviewed on an annual basis.
Parent/Child Reunification
Reunification is the process of reunifying the student with their parent/caregiver after an incident has occurred at a school. This is a critical aspect and will take the cooperation of all students, staff, and parents for it to be successful.
Parents/caregivers should remember not to immediately go to their child’s school if an emergency occurs. Avon Grove Charter School will contact you with information regarding reunification. Reunification will likely occur off-site and not at your child’s school. Parents should ensure they are getting their information from trusted news sources during an emergency.
Below are some helpful tips if an emergency ever occurs at your child’s school:
- Stay calm and aware. Our priority is keeping students safe. Monitor communications sent by the school via our notifications platforms for emergency updates and procedures.
- Cooperate with school and/or law enforcement officials. In the case of an emergency, the safety of your child and others will depend upon the ability of school and law enforcement officials to do their jobs. Please cooperate with them by going where they tell you to go.
- Be ready to respond to the designated reunification site. If there is an emergency and students are evacuated, parents will be allowed to pick up their children from the designated reunification site. If the school has declared a shelter-in-place or a lockdown is necessary, access to the school will be denied.
- Be patient when arriving at the reunification site. During an emergency, school personnel will maintain a safe environment for children within the school and/or at the reunification site. Remember, in some emergency situations, school could likely be the safest place for children.
- All parents/guardians will be required to complete a Reunification Card once they arrive at the site. Also, make sure you have your ID, as this will be required at the reunification site.
Community Input
The Avon Grove Charter School values the input of our community stakeholders. If you have a question or concern about security practices and procedures, please contact Chrissy Simpkins at csimpkins@agcharter.org.