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Emergency Response Information

Emergency Readiness

Thompson School District promotes emergency readiness through comprehensive planning in collaboration with emergency service providers (police, sheriff, fire, and medical). Readiness planning is conducted by school crisis teams and the district's Crisis Incident Response Team. Every school has a crisis team that plans and prepares for emergency needs within its building. To further support schools, the district has a response team called "DIRT" (District Incident Response Team). These two teams work together to ensure immediate, appropriate responses to any emergency incident.

Emergency incident response plans align with guidance from the Department of Homeland Security, the Colorado Department of Public Safety, and the U.S. Department of Education. The universal elements of readiness are: Prevent/Mitigate, Plan/Preparation, Response/Intervention, and Recovery/Reunification.

Emergency Response Protocols

Schools conduct a variety of emergency drills throughout the school year. These drills include fire, lockdown, secure the perimeter, shelter-in-place, and evacuation. Thompson School District uses the I Love U Guys Foundation Standard Response Protocol.

Safety and Security Roles

Every person in the community has a role in maintaining safe and secure schools. The roles of staff, students, parents, and the community include the following:

  • Staff members follow safety and security protocols, model safe and secure behaviors, reinforce behavioral expectations, and provide behavioral interventions. Staff members also plan and conduct emergency drills, serve on their safety and security committees, and collaborate with district personnel and community members to enhance measures to support a safe and secure learning environment. Staff members also know how to identify potential threats to safety and security and report such concerns to the school administration without delay.
  • Students play a critical role in maintaining safe and secure schools. Students should follow all directions during emergency drills. Students should be willing to talk with parents, teachers, school counselors, school administrators, and police when they have concerns about their own safety or that of another. Students should also practice positive interpersonal skills to help sustain a safe and secure learning environment and promote social competence.
  • Parents should be knowledgeable about safety and security procedures at their student's school. They should reinforce and support the school's behavioral expectations and participate in safety and security discussions at meetings. They should be able to identify potential threats to their student(s)' safety and security and report concerns to the school administration and/or the police without delay.
  • Community members, including those in law enforcement, fire, and medical services, should collaborate with school officials to develop emergency response protocols. Businesses, private organizations, clubs, and churches should partner with the district to help build, support, and sustain safe and secure schools.

In the Event of an Emergency

In the event of any emergency at Ivy Stockwell, parents/guardians are asked to monitor their phones and local news channels for information and advisories from the district. The district will provide urgent information to parents/guardians via telephone and email, the district website, social media (Facebook and Twitter), and the media.

Please review our school's emergency response plan. Among many things, you will want to know where to go for reunification (the process of bringing students together with parents/guardians). Ivy Stockwell has a plan to help you with this process.

What you can do

Here are some suggestions to follow to help keep schools safe and secure:

  1. Report violence, harassment, bullying, suspicious persons or activities, and illegal activities such as weapons and drug or alcohol possession/use to the school administration immediately. Do not wait! Without intervention, these problems do not go away.
  2. Report violence, harassment, bullying, suspicious persons or activities, and illegal activity such as weapons, drug, or alcohol possession/use to the police.
  3. SAFE2TELL® is designed to help YOU anonymously report any threatening behavior that endangers you, your friends, your family, or your community. Click the link to view and print Safe2Tell's most recent information sheet. http://safe2tell.org/
  4. Parents and students should discuss safety and security concerns, as well as prevention, intervention, and reporting methods.
  5. Monitor cell phone and social media information. Threats and bullying incidents have increasingly become more cyber-based. Without parental monitoring of these media, student victimization may go unnoticed, and needed interventions may be delayed.
  6. Talk to a school counselor. School counselors are trained in crisis prevention and intervention. Counselors offer significant social and emotional support to people at risk of harming themselves or others.
  7. Ask for help! There are many community resources available. Ask your school counselor, church, or civic organizations that provide help for individuals and families in crisis.