Policies on non-instructional services and programs, particularly those on business management such as safety, building and grounds management, office services, transportation, and food services.
The Amherst-Pelham School District has an obligation to provide school facilities and administrative procedures that help to protect the health and safety of students and staff in the event of an emergency or disaster situation. The potential for emergency situations requires planning and preparation, so that the actions initiated are appropriate, timely, responsive, coordinated and are communicated to and understood by staff, students, their parents, and other affected members of the community.
An emergency is a situation requiring evacuation and/or closure of schools or cancellation/delay of transportation due to fire, inclement weather, bomb threats, explosives, chemical spills, dangerous weapons or other building plant problems, etc.
It is the policy of the Amherst-Pelham School District that each school have clear, comprehensive emergency plans and guidelines appropriate to the school and be prepared to act accordingly. Individual school plans should concern actions to be taken in case of evacuation (drill or actual), inclement weather, fire, building plant emergency, bomb threats, chemical spills, etc. Plans should allow for the school’s uniqueness, but also meet the need for the school to act in concert with this policy and any associated guidelines. School plans should incorporate safety of students and staff, parent communication, building security, and means for alternative accommodations. Staff, students and parents should be made aware of plans for their school.
Every building principal will appoint an emergency team who will establish response guidelines that shall be followed in the event of emergency situations. Guidelines shall be reviewed annually by the Team and shall address the following:
a. Development of a high level of understanding concerning security and safety by all staff members, as appropriate.
b. Procedures for events such as fire, building collapse, bomb threat, power outage, security breach (trespassers, intruders), and community disaster events.
c. The conduct of emergency evacuation drills, as appropriate, in concert with local agencies, detailing the procedures referred to in subparagraph b. above.
d. Annual dissemination of written guidelines to staff, including substitute and temporary staff.
e. Notification to parents/guardians of procedures to be followed in the event of emergency school closure, including a copy of the school’s plans for meeting emergency situations. Each plan should address conditions that are likely to occur when students are awaiting parent pickup or school personnel are unable to notify families in accordance with provisions on emergency notification cards.
f. Provisions for the evacuation of special needs students.
g. Training for all staff in handling emergency situations.
h. Provisions for communication with students and parents as fully as possible, and as soon as possible about the nature of an emergency and the actions taken in response to it.
a. The Superintendent is empowered to close any or all schools, delay the start of schools or dismiss schools early in case of severe weather or other emergencies which threaten the safety or welfare of students and staff.
b. In the event a decision is made to close, delay, or dismiss the schools, the superintendent is responsible for communicating this decision to building principals and to parents via local area radio stations and other media outlets. A list of the outlets will be provided to school principals at the beginning of the school year and should be included in parent and staff handbooks.
c. The superintendent will publish district guidelines, in the form of a School Safety Manual, for preparing for and responding to threats to the safety and security of students and staff.
a. Parents are expected to provide the school with information about how they can be reached in case of an emergency and about alternative homes to which students can be taken when parents are not reachable.
a. In addition to information provided by principals to students and parents, the Superintendent will ordinarily make information about emergency closings available to the public through the district newsline, district website and the media.
b. The Superintendent will notify the School Committee Chair, who will notify other Committee members.
MGL 71:55C and Acts of 1985c 614 Sec 1
Board of Education 603 CMR 36:00
When an emergency closing or dismissal of an Amherst elementary school occurs, the responsibility for the safety and welfare of students is shared by the school district and parents. Although such occasions should be rare ones, this policy is intended to guide all parties and facilitate communication and cooperation between schools and parents.
The Superintendent is empowered to close any or all schools, delay starting times, or dismiss schools early in case of severe weather or other emergencies which threaten the safety or welfare of students.
A. In the event a decision is necessary prior to the opening of school to close schools or to delay the starting of schools, the Superintendent is responsible for communicating this decision via local area radio stations.
B. In the event a decision is necessary during the school day to curtail the school day early, the following procedures will be followed:
C. Parents will be requested each year to record, with the Principal of the school where their children attend, whether or not:
D. Decisions by parents not to send their children to school on days when weather conditions are questionable will be respected. Such decisions by parents should be communicated directly to the school by phone.
E. A copy of this policy and appropriate administrative regulations will be distributed to staff and parents at the beginning of each school year and a reminder sent home as the winter season approaches.
No outdoor school sponsored activities will be allowed during electrical disturbances.
The School Committee authorizes the use of video cameras on district property to ensure the health, welfare and safety of all students, staff and visitors on district property, and to safeguard district facilities and equipment. Video cameras may be used in exterior locations as deemed appropriate by the principal in consultation with the superintendent.
The district will notify staff and students through student/parent and staff handbooks that video surveillance may occur on district property.
Students or staff identified on surveillance cameras in violation of School Committee policies will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action. Violations of the law will be referred to law enforcement agencies.
The School Committee will be notified prior to the installation of security cameras on school grounds and told of the need and placement of such cameras.
Video recordings may or may not be used as a basis for student or employee disciplinary action.
The Superintendent will develop regulations and procedures for the use of video recordings for disciplinary action, for who has viewing rights to the video recordings, and for the retention and erasure of video recordings.
The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee will not assume any responsibility for automobiles placed in the auto shop for students to repair.
Use of unlicensed motor vehicles other than those used for school programs is prohibited on school property.
In addition to the state requirements for the transportation of students, as outlined in Chapter 71, Section 68 of the laws of the Commonwealth, Amherst students who reside one and one half miles or more from the school they are entitled to attend shall be provided daily transportation to and from school. Exceptions to this mileage limit may be made by the Superintendent whenever the route to school is determined to be a dangerous way.
It is the policy of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee, the Amherst School Committee and the Pelham School Committee to provide school bus transportation with sufficient seating and, therefore, not require students to remain standing. To this end, the following actions shall be taken annually:
The Amherst, Pelham, and Amherst-Pelham Regional School Districts hereby agree to indemnify the bus contractor in those cases where a claim, suit or complaint is filed against the bus contractor where a bus driver, employed by the bus contractor, has administered an EpiPen on a student traveling on the bus to or from school or school-sponsored functions. This indemnification will be limited to those cases where the bus driver has been trained by staff of the District to administer the EpiPen, has administered the EpiPen in conformity with that training and in good faith, and has administered the EpiPen only in those cases where the student has been identified by the District as a student who may require the administration of an EpiPen in order to prevent a severe allergic reaction.
To ensure the safety of all students who ride in buses, it may occasionally be necessary to revoke the privilege of transportation from a student who abuses this privilege. Parents of children whose behavior and misconduct on school buses endangers the health, safety, and welfare of other riders will be notified that their children face the loss of transportation privileges.