Emergency Procedures

A well developed plan exists to deal with a variety of emergencies. The plan is aligned with the guidelines of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), State Emergency Management System (SEMS), and the Palo Alto Unified School District Emergency Response Plan.

• Children's safety is our first priority. All staff are required to remain on campus in an emergency until released by the Incident Commander. Staff will absolutely not be released unless significant numbers of students have left the campus with their parents or authorized adults.
• Our plan covers a variety of possible emergencies, with particular focus on earthquake preparedness.
• All staff have designated roles in any emergency, and a command structure exists in case the principal is not on campus when an emergency occurs.
• District as well as school staff and our School Site Council are all involved in updating this plan. We inventory and replenish our supplies kept on hand annually.

In the event of an emergency, please remain calm and remember that your children will be taken care of.

• Tune into 740 AM or 810 AM or 90.1 FM (KZSU) for emergency information broadcast from the school district. DO NOT CALL THE SCHOOL. We will be busy managing the situation and must leave phone lines open to communicate with emergency personnel and the district office.
• Proceed carefully and calmly to school if you can. We will care for your child until she/he can be picked up.
• Your child will be released only to you or to one of the adults designated on your emergency information card.
• ID will be required unless you are already familiar to the adults in charge of release.
• There will only be one location from which students will be released. It is our plan to use the entrance/exit gate near Mears Court on Stanford Avenue for this purpose. All other gates will be locked. Information will be sent by email if we have found it necessary to move students to another location - possibly on the Stanford campus. Please be sure that the email that you have listed on Infinite Campus is one that you read.
• Please park on Stanford Avenue and walk to the gate. Do not double park on Stanford Avenue as that will be a main route for emergency vehicles within the community. We need to keep the school entrance clear for emergency vehicles only, so please do not drive into the main entrance of the school.
• We need to release students in an orderly and calm manner and we need your help to manage the situation. We need to record who picked up each student as well as the time of pick-up, so this will require patience on everyone's part.
• There will inevitably be some confusion in any situation - we need as many people as possible thinking about how to be helpful. If you can stay and help us, please let us know as there will be a person coordinating the assistance of volunteers.
• Talk with your child about emergency plans within your family. Tell your child not to be worried if it takes a long time for anyone to pick him/her up. Your child will remain safely at school until you or a person designated on the emergency card arrives to pick them up. Remember that your child's emergency card can be updated at any time during the school year.
• Students on buses when a major earthquake strikes will remain in the custody of the bus driver and will, if possible, be delivered to the nearest accessible PAUSD school site.

Instructions for Adults Picking Up Students in an Emergency

We need your help to make this challenging task work as smoothly as possible. We must account for every single child so you may NOT simply find your child and leave. We need you to follow our process so that we have a record for every child who leaves the school grounds identifying with whom the child left and at what time. Please model for the children how to remain calm and cooperative in an emergency.

• Enter and EXIT through Mears Court gate.
• Locate sign for your child's classroom/grade level.
• Find a teacher with a GREEN CAP in your child's grade level area. (It may not be your child's classroom teacher.)
• Locate your child.
• Look at the yellow disaster card (hanging around your child's neck). Circle your name on this card.
• Wait with disaster card and your child until teacher completes "for School Use Only" section. Teacher will keep the card.
• Exit through Mears Court gate.