OCSD Policies

OCSD Policies

Adoption Date: 08/10/1999
8000 - INSTRUCTION

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY INSTRUCTION
8212 Fire Drills, Bomb Threats and Bus Emergency Drills

Fire Drills

The administration of each school building shall provide instruction for and training of students, through fire drills, in procedures for leaving the building in the shortest possible time and without confusion or panic.

Fire drills shall be held at least twelve (12) times in each school year; eight (8) of these shall be held between September 1 and December 1. At least one (1) of the twelve (12) drills shall be held during each of the regular lunch periods, or shall include special instruction on the procedures to be followed if a fire occurs during a student's lunch period.

At least two (2) additional drills shall be held during summer school in buildings where summer school is conducted and one of these drills shall be held during the first week of summer school.

After-School Programs

The building principal or his/her designee shall require those in charge of after-school programs, attended by any individuals unfamiliar with the school building, to announce at the beginning of such programs the procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency.

Bomb Threats

When a bomb threat is received in the school, swift and appropriate action must be undertaken to assure the personal safety of each of the building occupants. This subheading addresses the general parameters of bomb threat evacuations to assure that all school staff and students will be prepared to act, without confusion or delay, in the event of a bomb threat incident.

Evacuation: Building Specific Bomb Threat

Specific school buildings, including administrative offices, bus garages, and storage buildings, are to be immediately evacuated as quickly and effectively as possible when notice of a bomb threat is received that is building specific. Prior to evacuation, the principal and custodian-should sweep the outside perimeter of the building. All building occupants are to be evacuated to a safe area and accounted for. In determining the extent of evacuation required, it is assumed that an explosion may cause damage and injury within an area of at least 300 feet from the point of detonation.

Evacuation from a building provides maximum and optimum safety for students and staff, thus allowing for the least compromised and encumbered search by authorities.

Evacuation: All District Building Bomb Threat

Bomb threats announcing that a bomb is in the School District (without indicating a specific location) require the evacuation of all School District buildings. School Emergency Management Plans should address this contingency with alternative areas for shelter, if a “Go Home Plan” is not feasible.

Sheltering: Bomb Threats in Outside Areas

Bomb threats which indicate that an explosive device is in a car, in the school parking lot, or somewhere else outside of the building require that building occupants remain inside the building. All persons outside the building in parking lots, playgrounds, etc. should be immediately moved into the building or moved further away from the site, whichever action takes such persons out of harm's way.

Depending on the information given in the bomb threat call, consideration should also be given to occupants in rooms on outside walls and windows. Building occupants should be moved to areas within the school which are free of glass. Sheltering occupants to inside building areas free of glass is to be considered in the School Emergency Management Plan for situations in which bomb threats are reported outside of a school facility. Evacuation or sheltering should be for the purpose of taking students out of harm's way.

Immediate Police Notification

A bomb threat to a school is a criminal act. Criminal acts are the domain and responsibility of law enforcement officials. The appropriate state, county, or local law enforcement agency is to be notified immediately of any bomb threat. School personnel are not authorized to determine if a telephoned bomb threat or suspicious package or letter is a hoax. School officials are responsible for information known; i.e., a bomb threat, and to take prudent and reasonable care of students and staff.

Dissemination of Information/Criminal Behavior

Information should be disseminated informing students and staff that the mere reporting of a false bomb threat is a crime that may result in imprisonment and/or civil penalties being imposed against the individual.

The building administrator will be responsible for informing school staff and students as to the appropriate procedures to be followed in the event of a bomb threat emergency, including the procedures to be followed in case of evacuation, early dismissal, and “sheltering” of students in school buildings when it is deemed safer for students to remain inside rather than to return home or be evacuated.

Evacuation: All District Building Bomb Threat

Sheltering: Bomb Threats in Outside Areas

Immediate Police Notification

Dissemination of Information/Criminal Behavior

Policy References:
8 New York Code of Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) Sections 155.13 and 156.3(h)(2) Penal Law Sections 240.55, 240.60 and 240.61 Education Law Sections 807 and 3623

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