The Alameda Unified School District’s highest priority is keeping students safe. Because of that, we constantly review, update and practice our safety protocols, including those for fires, earthquakes and disturbances on campus. These protocols have been developed in collaboration with local and regional emergency responders and are based on national best practices.
We’re aware, however, that when emergency vehicles are seen at a campus, when temperatures soar or when the Island is hit with wildfire smoke, community members often question how AUSD responds. As such, this week’s column provides a brief review of the AUSD’s emergency protocols.
Drills: All schools practice emergency procedures with their staff and students several times each school year. Those drills cover fires, earthquakes and lockdowns. All lockdown trainings are age-appropriate and take place in the classroom with the teacher leading the discussion. We do not conduct realistic scenario drills with younger students.
Heat and smoke: The AUSD follows guidelines from two agencies to determine how best to proceed during excessively hot days. We monitor the National Weather Service’s “Heat Risk Forecast” to project and respond to heat-related impacts during school days.
For athletics, we adhere to the California Interscholastic Federation’s Extreme Heat and Air Quality Policy, which requires all member schools to monitor the “Wet Bulb Globe Temperature.” This measurement considers temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover when calculating heat risk for athletes.
On projected smoky days, the AUSD tracks the websites of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. If the Air Quality Index is above 101, the AUSD follows state guidance for protecting student and staff health, including closing doors and windows, keeping students indoors and turning on High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) purifiers in classrooms.
Campus intruders: AUSD has developed robust plans and procedures for our schools to respond to intruders on campus. We train staff and students, conduct regular drills and review our plans annually.
In addition, the AUSD has taken a number of steps in recent years to improve campus security, including developing district-wide safety and security design standards (in partnership with local law enforcement); installing California safety locks on all doors; expanding the number of surveillance cameras on our high school and middle school campuses; building perimeter fencing and gates around our schools; and hiring more middle and high school campus supervisors.
At the same time, we have made considerable investments in our students’ mental health, including by contracting with community-based mental and behavioral support services so that practitioners are available to students in our district.
Communications: In the event of an emergency, the AUSD sends messages to families via texts and emails. Community members can find information via AUSD social media pages and websites. These updates are based on information received directly from the AUSD response team, emergency responders and school site personnel.
Want to learn more? Please see our Emergency Procedures webpage at bit.ly/ausdemergencyprocedures.
Reach Susan Davis, the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs, at 510-337-7175 or SDavis@alamedaunified.org.