Board of Education Adopts 2024-25 Safety Plan

Aug 22, 2024 | Bell Top, Columbia, District, Genet, Goff, Green Meadow, Pre-K, Red Mill, Sutherland

The East Greenbush Central School District Board of Education adopted the 2024-25 District-wide Safety Plan at its public meeting on Wednesday evening. The plan outlines the district’s response to emergencies, the types of safety drills to be completed each year and the School Resource Officer agreements.

School districts are required by the state to develop District-wide Safety Plans each year to provide broad concepts, policies and procedures to address potential emergency situations. The plan must be approved by the Board of Education following public review. A draft version of the Safety Plan was open for a public comment period of 30 days beginning on July 9.

In accordance with new state guidelines, changes to this year’s Safety Plan include:

  • Bus drivers and monitors will be added to School Safety Teams
  • Safety drills will be administered with a trauma-informed mindset
    • Safety drills will avoid tactics “that may introduce or activate prior trauma”
    • Safety drills may only occur after training has been provided to students and staff each year
    • Safety drills will be announced to students and staff through the PA system prior to the start of a drill (existing fire code does not require advance notice of fire drills)
    • Teachers and staff will provide a short debriefing following each safety drill and answer any questions that students may have
  • Parents/guardians will be notified of an upcoming safety drill within two days of that scheduled drill and they will be notified once the drill is completed (notification is not required for fire drills)
  • No more than one safety drill can be completed at a school on a given day
  • Annual training will be provided to members of the Multi-Disciplinary Behavior Assessment Team (Threat Assessment Team)

Many of these updates were already in place in the East Greenbush CSD, but are now a part of the written Safety Plan.

To learn more about the East Greenbush Central School District’s safety program, visit the School Safety and Security page.

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