Emergency Guide for Parents ::..

Information Parents Need If Emergencies Arise
at School or in the Community

Safe Environments for Learning - A Top Priority
Maintaining safe, caring schools for students, staff, and visitors is a primary goal of the St. Tammany Parish Public School System. Parental support and community assistance are vital to helping us maintain safe, orderly schools. We work in partnership to develop and implement school and district emergency response plans that help ensure safe schools and offer peace of mind.

Emergency Preparation Is Critical
School System officials work closely with parish government, law enforcement and other emergency responders, and emergency preparedness officials to monitor safety concerns and act quickly to respond to emergency situations as needed. The School System and all schools have emergency plans designed to respond to emergencies, including inclement weather, fire, dangerous items on campus, etc. These emergency plans help ensure officials act swiftly and effectively.

Plans are reviewed regularly and school officials conduct drills throughout the year to monitor the effectiveness of emergency procedures. Principals are happy to discuss school emergency plans with parents and answer any questions.

Parents Have a Key Role in Emergency Response
During and following an emergency situation, school officials must act quickly to secure schools, safeguard students and staff, and communicate appropriately. Parents can assist greatly by helping with preparation before the emergency. Here are a few critical steps you can take to help.

• Give school officials accurate contact information so you can be reached in case of emergency. Keep the information current by notifying officials of any changes as soon as they occur. Multiple contact sources are helpful, including home and office telephone and fax numbers, mobile telephone numbers and paging information, email addresses, etc. Also important, in case you cannot be reached, are the up-to-date names and contact information of family members, friends, and any other adults authorized as emergency contacts for your child.
• Talk to your child about your personal emergency notification arrangements and let your child and school officials know if you anticipate being unavailable or difficult to reach for an extended period of time.
• Stay informed about potentially serious situations, such as inclement weather.
• Monitor local media when serious conditions arise at school or in the community that might result in school evacuation, early dismissal, or school closings.
• Review the attached School Emergency Card and keep it with you as a reference if needed.
• Notify school officials if you see or hear of anything that could create a danger at school. If you prefer, you may call the Crimestoppers Safe School Hotline at 1-877-903-7867.

Early Dismissal and Emergency School Closings
Occasionally, an unforeseeable event or emergency may require the closing of a school or all schools for a period of time. Notification of emergency closings is given as soon as possible so parents and guardians can make arrangements for students to be cared for during closings. The decision to close schools is based on many considerations, the most important being the safety of students, staff, parents, and others in the community.

In cases of threatening weather, the System administration maintains close contact with the U. S. Weather Service, parish government, local law enforcement officials, and emergency preparedness officials to help make decisions about early dismissal of students or school closings. Officials want to make the safest possible arrangements for students and may delay release of students to school buses during exceptionally hazardous driving conditions. In these cases, students may arrive at their bus drop-off sites later than usual.

In some cases, school officials are able to notify parents directly about early dismissals or closings. Most often, circumstances do not permit individual calls to parents. Rather than dropping students off early at homes when parents have not been notified, students may be kept at school until parents can arrange for students to be picked up.

Emergency Release of Students to Parents
School officials want to maintain as safe and orderly an environment as possible at all times; and, during an emergency, special procedures are followed to help ensure student safety. Principals have procedures in place to help parents who wish to pick up their children from school, if evacuation during the school day is required.

Students are released from a designated area to parents and guardians with proper identification. For your child's safety, your child can be released only to an adult who you have designated in writing as an emergency contact and who has proper identification. Non-custodial parents who may pick up students must be listed with your child's emergency contact information as a guardian and also must show proper identification.

School Emergency Information for Parents

Important Emergency Information Contact Information

St. Tammany Parish Public School System
School Emergency Contact Reference

Please keep the emergency information card handy or carry it with you. If an emergency occurs that affects your child's school or all School System schools, check the following sources of information:

• local television, radio, and newspapers;
• the School System Web site at www.stpsb.org;
• the School System educational television station (cable Channel 13); and/or
• the School System telephone Emergency Lines at 985-635-0801, Press 1 (inside the parish) and 1-800-580-1874 (outside the parish).

If you or your child have information about a serious or potentially serious school safety concern, call the school principal or the Crimestoppers Safe School Hotline at 985-903-7867.

Getting Information During a School Emergency or Closing
School emergency closing and re-opening information is available through a number of sources. Parents are asked to stay informed through:

• local television, radio, and newspapers;
• the School System Web site at www.stpsb.org;
• the School System educational television station (cable Channel 13); and
• the School System telephone Emergency Lines. Those numbers are 985-635-0801, Press 1 (calling from inside the parish) and 1-800-580-1874 (calling from outside the parish).

During an emergency, parents need to closely monitor information about the situation, including procedures being followed, before going to school or to the scene of an emergency. Timely information will be released to parents through the sources above or personal contact when possible.