SCHOOL POPULATION ACCOUNTABILITY PROCEDURE

DURING AN EVACUATION

Created: June 19, 2002 Revised: July 7, 2003
CONTENTS

·  Introduction

·  Procedure Components

·  Procedure Availability

·  Compliance

·  Student Accountability

·  Individuals with Disabilities Accountability

·  Staff and Visitor Accountability

·  Possible Communication Solutions

·  Red/Green Card Student Accountability

·  School Building Floor by Floor Sweep Accountability

SCHOOL POPULATION ACCOUNTABILITY PROCEDURE DURING AN EVACUATION

Reference: Fire Exit Drill Procedure Revision Date: 6/19/02

INTRODUCTION

School population accountability is defined as the process that schools take to ensure that all students, staff, and visitors are accounted for during and after a required evacuation of the school. This accountability procedure applies to any required evacuation whether it is a fire evacuation, bomb evacuation, or similar evacuations due to hazardous spills, leaks or even precautionary evacuations.

PROCEDURE COMPONENTS

The procedure consists of three major accountability sections. The first section is Student Accountability. The second section is Individuals with Disabilities Accountability and the third section is Staff and Visitor Accountability.

Each section will consist of the primary evacuation from the classroom to outside of the building as well as the communication/notification process that allows the school administrator to know that every occupant is out of the building.

PROCEDURE AVAILABILITY

The School Population Accountability Procedure is an integral part of a successful school evacuation. When the procedure is established, a written copy must be placed in the back of Section 4 of the Fire Alarm Manual. The procedure must be available for the Denver Fire Department personnel at the school location. A copy of the procedure should be mailed to the DPS Risk Management Department as well as to the Area Superintendent’s office.

COMPLIANCE

The implementation of this procedure is the responsibility of the school administration and must be in place and functional by September 30, 2002.

STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY

When the order is given to evacuate the building by fire alarm or announcement, the teacher will follow the following steps. Remember that student accountability is the responsibility of the teacher.

These steps may be modified by the school administration to fit the character of the school, but cannot be modified to change the purpose or result of the procedure.

  1. Move all students from the classroom in an orderly and quiet manner.
  1. The teacher is to take a copy of the class roster with them as they leave the classroom.
  1. Close the classroom door after the last student or occupant is out of the classroom.
  1. Proceed in an orderly fashion from the building to the predetermined safe area approximately 300 feet from the school building.
  1. After reaching the designated safe area for the class, using the class roster, take role and check off all students that are present and note all students that are not there.
  1. Notify the school administrator or designee that YOUR class is out of the building and give them the status of the students, those present and those missing. This attendance check should be completed as quickly as possible.

The school administrator will determine how the notification process will take place.

  1. The school administrator will notify the responding authorities Fire, Police and or DPS Safety and Security of the student accountability results.
  1. No one is allowed to go back into the building to search for missing students, staff or visitors once they have left the building. The responding authorities will direct that effort.

This student accountability procedure should be practiced with every evacuation drill from the school or classroom.

INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES ACCOUNTABILITY

1.  When an evacuation is required from the school, all individuals with mobility problems, that cannot evacuate the building, shall be taken to the nearest, safe Evacuation Staging Area. “All Individuals” includes students, staff, and visitors that have mobility restrictions that will keep them from evacuating the building.

Remember that the first choice for everybody is to leave the building.

2.  A staff member will accompany these individuals to the nearest, safe evacuation Staging Area. Upon arriving at the staging area the staff member will immediately call / notify the office and identify themselves as well as the individuals with them. They will remain in the staging area until notified that they may leave or until the responding authorities arrive to remove them from the building.

3.  Refer to the Guidelines For The Evacuation Of Individuals With Disabilities Procedure for additional information.

STAFF AND VISITOR ACCOUNTABILITY

1.  When an evacuation of the facility is required, all staff that are not assigned to a class should leave the building and notify the school administration that they are safe and out of the building.

2.  All visitors should evacuate the building with the class or the individual staff member that they are visiting. The visitors’ identity and location should be communicated to the school administrator or their designee as soon as they are safely out of the building.

3.  The school office staff should take the visitor log with them as they evacuate the building and use the log to account for all visitors as they are notified that the visitors are safely out of the building.

POSSIBLE COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS

The process that each school uses to communicate from the teacher to the school administrator that all students are accounted for is left to the desecration of the school administrators. The formality of the Student Accountability Procedure is a means to document that process and therefore meet the requirements of the Fire Prevention Bureau and to help ease the concerns of parents and the District.

There are few, documented solutions to the communication issue. The Red/Green Card System is the most common and probably the most popular in the elementary schools.

Red/Green Card Student Accountability System

The Red/Green Card System is simplistic in nature. Each classroom will have been issued a RED and a GREEN laminated card or a card that is Red on one side and Green on the opposite side. These card(s) are to be kept with the class roster or role book.

When the notification to evacuate the classroom and or school is given each teacher will follow the school’s evacuation plan and complete the following.

·  The teacher will take the class roster or role book and the Red and Green card(s) with them when they evacuate their classroom.

·  When the class reaches its designated assembly area, the teacher will take role and will hold up a Green Card if all of their students are accounted for. If they are not all accounted for they hold up the Red Card. The teacher will notify the school administrator that a student is missing and the student’s name.

·  This process allows the school administrator to notify the responding authorities that all of the students are accounted for or that one is missing from a specific classroom.

·  With this information the responding authorities can begin searching in a specific area.

The only individuals that may remain in the building are those with mobility disabilities that cannot utilize the stairs. These individuals will be accompanied by a staff member and will remain in the nearest and safest Evacuation Staging Area on their floor. (Refer to the “Individuals with Disabilities Accountability section of this document)

School Building Floor by Floor Sweep Accountability Procedure

When the notification to evacuate the school is received the teachers will take a copy of their attendance sheet or roll book with them and ensure that all of their students are out of their classroom, and out of the building. Once out of the school, the teacher will take role. The teacher will then notify the school administration by using the schools notification procedure.

This “floor sweep procedure” will help ensure that everybody, students, staff, and visitors, have evacuated the building. A “floor sweep” requires the assignment of a staff member(s) to be responsible for a floor or a section of the floor and look into all rooms to ensure that everyone has evacuated. This “sweep” will do immediately after the classes have left their floor. The staff members that are assigned to “sweep” the floor then contact the school administration that their “floor” is clear.

The only individuals that may remain in the building are those with mobility impairments that keep them from utilizing the stairs. These individuals will be accompanied by a staff member and will remain in the nearest and safest Evacuation Staging Area on their floor. (Refer to the “Individuals with Disabilities Accountability section of this document)

The school administrator may not know, by name, that all students, visitors and staff are out of the building but they will know that no one remains in the building except for the students, staff or visitors that have reported in from the Evacuation Staging Areas.


STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROCEDURE FOR SCHOOL NAME

EXAMPLE

·  Fire alarm sounds

·  All teachers take their grade book or a class roster and follow the designated evacuation procedures for the school and classroom.

·  Students, staff members, and visitors with disabilities, that cannot evacuate the building, follow the established procedures, and move to the closest, safest “Evacuation Staging Area”.

o  The staff member that accompanies the student, visitor, or staff member notifies the office that they, the staff member and the student, visitor, or staff member, by name are ok and are in Room ####. (This information is given to the arriving members of the Denver Fire Department.)

·  All other teachers follow his / her class to the designated area outside of the building.

·  Staff members that are not in a class at the time of the alarm will “sweep” the floors of the school as they leave the building making sure that there are not any students, staff, or visitors in the bathrooms or offices and lounges.

·  The teacher takes roll and via radio contact notifies the school administrator that all students in their class are accounted for.

·  A teacher missing a student notifies the school administrator via radio.

·  The administrator verifies that the student is accounted for in another class or is with a staff member. The administrator will notify the Denver Fire Department that “the student” is missing when they arrive.

·  All office personal, teachers on their Planning Period, food Service personnel, Facility Managers evacuate the building and go their assigned areas.

·  All areas report to the school administrator that their area is clear.

·  The school administrator notifies the arriving fire fighters of the status of the evacuation.

8/25/2003 1