Student safety in Elmira is our first priority. New York State requires Teams and Plans for school safety through the Project SAVE framework. One of the requirements of Project SAVE is that school districts develop, review and regularly update school safety plans at the district and building level. The District-wide school safety plan and building level emergency response plans are intended to define how each school district and all the buildings in the District will respond to acts of violence and other disasters through prevention, intervention, emergency response and management.
1. District-wide Safety Team - Responsible for developing the District-Wide Safety Plan
Comprehensive broad concepts, policies and procedures
• Focus is on district policy regarding safety, procedures and protocols.
• Includes DASA and Code of Conduct requirements.
• Must be board adopted and shared at public meeting with public comment period; In accordance with Education Law, each public school district must develop and annually update a District-Wide Safety Plan. Annually, the District-Wide Safety Plan is to be made available for 30-day public comment, including a public hearing, and then be approved by the Board of Education:
Public Safety Plan hearing>>
• Must be posted on the district website (see the current District-wide safety plan here:
District-Wide Safety Plan>>
2. Building-Level Emergency Response Teams - Responsible for developing building-level emergency response plans including identifying the emergency and post-incident response teams
Detail specific response procedures
• Outline how school personnel and students respond in their building to an emergency.
• Details about evacuation and where students reassemble.
• Information specific to emergency communication between staff, responders and family.
• Confidential; are protected from disclosure.
• Components of the building-level emergency response plan include communication, shelter-in-place, hold-in-place, evacuate, lockout, lockdown, accounting for all people, reunification, security, cybersecurity, and recovery.
• Drills are scheduled throughout the year to practice emergency response procedures, as outlined in the building-level emergency response plan. Drills provide an opportunity to practice staff and student actions during an emergency.
New York State Education Department considerations for conducting exercises and reviewing drills to test components of the emergency response plan:
❑ Eight
Evacuation drills each year
❑ Four
Lockdown drills each year
❑ Eight drills completed by December 31st each year
❑ Four drills must be through fire escapes or secondary egress
❑ Drills are conducted at different times of the school day
❑ Procedures to be followed in the event that a fire occurs during lunch or assembly
❑ One
early dismissal drill each school year to include
• Notifying parents at least one week prior to the drill
• Testing the communications and transportation system during an emergency
District Chief Emergency Officer
This plan designates the Superintendent of Schools, as the Elmira City School District’s Chief Emergency Officer (CEO). The CEO is responsible for coordinating communication between staff and law enforcement and first responders and for ensuring that staff understands of the District-Wide School Safety Plan. Among other responsibilities the CEO also ensures that Building-Level Emergency Response Plans are annually updated.