Safety Planning and Emergency Procedures

The Los Gatos Union Elementary School District is dedicated to providing a safe educational environment for all students, staff, parents, and visitors at each of our elementary schools sites, Blossom Hill, Daves Avenue, Lexingtion, Louise Van Meter, and our middle school, R.J. Fisher. In order to achieve this, the Los Gatos Union School Emergency Plan: Standard Operating Procedures have been written to address all potential emergency situations that could occur. In addition, each site-specific plan includes specific emergency assignments in District-wide and school-wide emergency situations that follow Incident Command System (ICS) and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) protocols that meet local, state, and federal guidelines.

We are also pleased to announce that the District implemented Power Announcement, a rapid communication service, designed specifically for the K-12 community delivering voice, e-mail, and emergency messages at a rate up to 2.5 million per hour quickly keeping parents and staff informed on important and time-sensitive information.  In addition to delivering routine messaging, Power Announcement is a critical component to every crisis plan, ensuring accurate information is communicated immediately in the event of a lockdown, relocation, evacuation, or other emergency situation. Power Announcement also provides several ways parents/staff will be notified in the event of an emergency. Parents and staff have the additional option of receiving text messages from the District in the event of an emergency.

Please reference the right navigation tool found on this page for more detailed information about the Board-adopted Emergency Plan: Standard Operating Procedures for LGUSD.

The following student emergency release procedure is designed to ensure that parents/guardians know where to go to pick up their children in the event of a school-wide emergency or an event that causes students to be released at an unplanned time. Blossom Hill School has enough emergency supplies to last for 24 hours (food, water, first aid) on its own. It should also be noted that phones may not be answered in the event of an emergency. Please tune in to the local radio stations on the next page for updated information.

The additional benefits of the release program are to lessen the confusion/panic of an unplanned event and to ensure that students are released only to those people who are written on the emergency card.

 

Each grade level at Blossom Hill School has a color of its own. Students and teachers are trained to assemble by their grade level colors after the initial emergency evacuations. No students will be released until after they move to their grade level areas. Your student will only be released to the parent/guardian or someone designated by the parent/guardian on the emergency card. Note: During an emergency situation, we will be unable to attempt to contact parents/guardians. This means that the first person who arrives at the school and is listed on the emergency card will be able to sign out and leave with your student. We make a note of who signs a student out and their destination so that a parent/guardian will know how to locate their child.

 

The grade level flag colors are:

• Kindergarten is BLUE
• 1st grade is RED
• 2nd grade is GREEN
• 3rd grade is YELLOW
• 4th grade is ORANGE
• 5th grade is PURPLE

When you arrive on campus to pick up your child, follow the protocol and remain calm.

 

• A. Bring I.D. (driver’s license or passport). This is critically important to ensure that the students are released only to authorized people.
• B. Know whom you are picking up. Remember that once the child is released to an authorized adult, that adult is now responsible for that child!

• A. Park in a safe location. Do not block driveways, gates, or parking lot drive-through.
• B. Walk on to the campus. The school will already be following its emergency procedures. Calmly follow the directions of the staff.
• C. You will be directed to your child’s grade level area for checkout. Wait for your turn, then identify yourself and whom you are picking up. Present your identification to the staff member who is helping you. Remember you must be listed on the emergency card. NO EXCEPTIONS! Parents who have more than one child to check out will have to proceed to each grade level release area.
• D.*This procedure will take time! Do not be in a hurry or panic. The protocol is set up to make sure each child is released to an authorized adult, to account for each child, and to make the atmosphere as calm and non-stressful as possible for both the students (who are waiting) and the parents/guardians (who are checking them out).
• E. After signing out the children, we ask that you leave the campus immediately.