Spring Safety 2024

  IMPORTANT: Safety Drill Reminders

We are going to have our School Safety Week next week, so wanted to give you the information ahead of time.  All staff need to review safety procedures for themselves, and classroom teachers/specialists need to review the procedures with their students for the SEVERE WEATHER and LOCK DOWN drills this week.  I will review each of our drills (Hold, Secure, Evacuation, Severe Weather and Lockdown) on the Raider Report this week as well.  We will try to do a fire drill next week as well.

Severe Weather

Next week is designated as Severe Weather Awareness week, with a statewide Tornado Drill on Thursday, April 11th.  While we will not be doing an all-school practice at that time, staff are asked to do the following:

Please review:

• Classroom teachers: On Thursday (April 11), at your own chosen time, review the overhead message: Shelter for tornado. Go to your tornado shelter area. In addition, review the crouch position (crouch low, head down, protecting the back of the head with their arms), and visit your classroom's severe weather (tornado) location and the Tornado Review procedure.  The state tornado Drill is at 1:45, but teachers/specialists can choose to do their review at any time during the day.

• Specialists: review your location with your students
• Note: I will review lunch/recess procedures on the Raider Report next week: students will go into the hallway between Deanna's and Ryan's rooms, and near the elevator if needed.

Lockdown Drill

Classroom teachers and Specialists: Talk through the drill with your students, sometime this week

• Discuss with students that sometimes there are times when our school will have emergency situations like a fire drill, needing to stay in the classroom for a medical situation, or other emergency situations.

• Explain that this announcement would say: Lockdown! Locks, Lights, Out of Sight. You do not need to explicitly discuss active shooters, but most importantly, remind them when a lockdown occurs, all students need to listen carefully and follow the instructions of their teacher.

• Remind students that if they are in the hallway/bathroom, they need to quietly find a classroom door that is unlocked (if they can’t get into their own classroom).

• Optional: Here's the I Love You Guys presentation that Heather shared with us this fall.

Building Safety

As always, continue to:

• keep outside doors closed/latched
• keep classroom doors locked so they can be quickly closed and secured
• keep an eye on entry doors (by front office) to make sure they are closed - they sometimes get propped open
• follow up with anyone in the building that does not have a badge or visitor sticker

Thank you to everyone for your diligence to this informaiton and these practices. It is always our hope that we will never have to implement any emergency procedures, but if we do, it's important that we are ready.

PBIS Reboot

While revisiting PBIS expectations with students after they are away from school routines for any length of time may feel unnecessary, a PBIS Reboot or Refresher can help transition students back when you return from a break.

Here are a few suggestions for refreshing your PBIS after a break:

1.  Review expectations and classroom routines.  When students return after a break from school, it may feel like you have a new group of students returning to your classroom!  While at home, students may not have had a schedule or routine, so it is important to ease back into routine, as many may have forgotten how to function at school.  Imagine they are a blank slate and that we need to reteach those expectations and routines.

2.  Refresh rewards and recognition systems in your classroom.  This could be a good time to change it up for the las part of the school year. Not eliminating the acknowledgment system in place, but evaluating how you are using what you are using, what is working, what is not working, and how you can refresh your system.  How can you make recognizing student positive behaviors more engaging and fun?  

Reboot Plan from WR PBIS Team:

• All classrooms/specialists should review the PBIS School Matrix and their classroom matrix.  The rest of the plan is up to the teacher/team - giving you the autonomy to choose what's best for you and your students.
• Sarah will have a "PBIS All-School Scoot" set up for grades 3-5 for those who would like to do it - let Sarah know if you are interested. Note: The Scoot will be ready sometime Monday afternoon.
• 5th grade is differentiating - Sarah and Sue will meet with some that need a more direct reteaching with some students while the rest will do the Scoot.
• 3rd grade was planning to do the "Find someone who..." activity that 4th grade has done. They are hoping to help revise some of the Cool Tools as part of their review.
• Here are the links to the PBIS Cool Tool videos for K-2 to review
• Cafeteria Cool Tool 2023
• Bathroom 
• Quiet Hallways
• Begin/End of DayPlayground
• Other options include having Sarah or Sue to talk to your class, or inviting book buddies or other older students to talk with your class

Teams won't need to document what they do, but PBIS members will discuss how the REBOOT went at the next PBIS Tier 1 meeting.

Thanks for all you do - have a great week back!
Sue

 

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