School Safety Update from YPS

School Safety is something we spend a lot of time and resources on throughout each year. Events across the country the past few years have shown this is a topic that must be continually addressed and enhanced on a regular basis.

• In September, all YPS classroom and office staff earned ALICE certification after an on-line training program. ALICE stands for Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate.
• All YPS buildings have determined two “rallying points” in case they need to evacuate their facilities. By having two different rallying points in totally different directions, we can select which one is best for the uniqueness of a given situation.
• All YPS classrooms have received “Emergency Go Buckets.” These buckets include some basic emergency kit items that would help us in a lockdown or evacuation drill.
• Over the next few weeks, all YPS classroom and office staff will have participated in “Stop the Bleed” training with staff from York General. This would be useful if we were ever in a lockdown situation and had to wait on medical care to arrive on site.
• On Tuesday, October 30th, it is our intent to conduct basic lock-down and evacuation drills in each YPS building. We will NOT use practice intruders or fake guns or do anything that will be alarming, loud, intrusive, or upsetting to our students. We will simply practice some intercom announcements, conduct our lock-down drills, discuss movement throughout the buildings, review our protocol with emergency buckets, staying away from doors, etc. We will then perform an evacuation drill where we walk off campus to one of our rally points. We want to see the flow of our students out of our buildings, on sidewalks, etc. to better prepare for any adjustments we need to make. We want to practice keeping track of our students as we move from campus in an urgent but efficient and organized manner. We are working to collaborate with local law enforcement and first responders so they can participate in the drills to see our procedures and offer up any suggestions from their professional points of view.

We are sending out this information to simply let everyone know the steps we are taking to maximize the safety and well-being of our students and staff. Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions or concerns at 402-366-6491 or mike.lucas@yorkdukes.org. Thank you for your support.

Mike Lucas
Superintendent of Schools