Emergency Preparedness

Sturgeon Public Schools has a District-wide Emergency Response Plan, which would be implemented during a local disaster or school emergency. The plan's primary objective is to ensure your child's safety.

The Emergency Response Plan is a preparatory measure. Statistics show schools are still among the safest places to be on a day-to-day basis due to the strong commitment of educators, parents, and communities to their children. Nevertheless, disasters do happen, and because of that, no community can be complacent in its efforts to make its schools even safer. For this reason, we have implemented the Plan, so please do not be alarmed by this precautionary action.

Drills

Although it is unlikely that the Emergency Response Plan will need to be fully activated at Landing Trail  School, the possibility still does exist. Therefore, to prepare all school community members, including your child, to act immediately. Subsequent training will occur periodically throughout the year and cover various circumstances. In addition to practicing emergency evacuation, we will discuss the appropriate actions to take during other emergencies, including a lockdown and shelter-in-place. We will conduct six practice emergency evacuations (fire drills) and two lockdown drill each school year. These drills and accompanying discussions are designed to prepare your child to act quickly and minimize your child’s fear should an emergency occur.

Parent-Child Reunion Centre

The Emergency Response Plan also incorporates a systematic approach to reuniting children with their parents. The plan identifies two sites for the Parent-Child Reunion Centre associated with Landing Trail School. The first site is located on the school grounds. The second site is located at the School Emergency Evacuation Centre (Gibbons Community Cultural Centre) – this location is activated only when the school premises must be evacuated. (In some cases, using an alternate site - Bon Accord may be necessary.) Due to the unpredictable nature of any emergency, we can only tell you where the Parent-Child Reunion Centre is located at the time of the emergency. You will be notified via the School Messenger (Parent Portal) of the location if it is necessary to activate either of these Parent-Child Reunion Centres.

Reuniting With Your Child

To ensure your child’s safety, we must establish some protocol for picking up your child. Therefore, please be advised of the following guidelines when picking up your child from a Parent-Child Reunion Centre:

• No student will be released unless you or an individual designated on the student's PowerSchool records arrives to pick up that student. 

• You must ensure the information on your child’s PowerSchool account is current.

You will be required to present valid identification. This step is necessary to protect your child from unauthorized individuals attempting to pick up your child. The school may receive assistance from other schools or outside agencies and may not know you.

You will be required to sign for the release of your child. This is extremely important, as it is our only means of ensuring that all students are accounted for. Please do not just take your child from the centre without signing for their release. We recognize that you may be worried and want to be reunited with your child as quickly as possible. However, this system has been established to ensure your child’s safety. You may jeopardize your child’s or another child’s safety by not adhering to these procedures.

Should our regular transportation system cannot transport your child home, your child will be kept at the centre until you arrange to pick them up.

If you cannot pick up your child, they will be kept at the Parent-Child Reunion Centre until alternate arrangements can be made. Your child will be supervised at all times.

Common Language Used:

• All Clear: Used to advise when incident is brought to a closure.

• On-Alert: Used with additional instruction to advise of a possible emergency.

• Lock Down: Used for the threat of concerning/violent incidents.

• Hold and Secure: Used when security threat or criminal activity is outside and/or unrelated to the school.

• Shelter in Place: Used to direct and control movement inside the school. There is no threat of violence.