Running head: SAFETY CALENDAR 1

Safety Calendar: Rincon Vista Middle School

Briana Fonseca

Grand Canyon University: EAD-536

November 11, 2020

SAFETY CALENDAR 2

Safety Calendar: Rincon Vista Middle School

The following list of dates outlines important safety drills that Rincon Vista Middle

School would follow to ensures school safety. The dates would be decided on in collaboration

with the assistant principal. We would schedule the safety drills and evacuations on days that

would best support school staff to be prepared in the event of an emergency. Fire drills,

lockdowns, school evacuations and trainings to prepare staff for different emergency situations,

are given dates and explained below.

Fire Drills

 Training would be included in the “welcome back” 2-day training all staff goes through
at the start of the school year. The training would be 45-minutes and include an
explanation of the purpose, expectations, and routes that each grade-level would follow
for fire drills. Thursday, July 23rd. Training for students would take place the first week
of school including a practice drill, before their first “official” schoolwide practice drill.

 Friday, July 31st at 2:15 p.m. The fire drill will take place during 9th period, so all grade-
levels will be in a content-level teacher’s classroom. Specialists will not have students.
All classes will follow their designated path
 Wednesday, August 26th at 8:45 a.m. During this time no students are transitioning and
are in designated classroom; 6th and 7th grade is in 2nd period, and 8th grade is in specials.
Students will follow the designated route
 Monday, September 21st at 11:00 a.m. The first lunch of the day is at 11:20 (6th grade) so
student lunch times would not be affected. All grade-levels will be in 4th period.
 Wednesday, October 28th at 9:40 a.m. 6th grade will be in advisory base and grades 7 and
8 will be in 3rd period. No classes will be transitioning
 Thursday, November 26th at 12:00 p.m. 7th grade will be in advisory, while 6th and 7th
grade will be in 4th period; no grade-levels will be transitioning, so students will be with
designated teachers.
 Tuesday, December 22nd at 8:30 a.m. This is the week before winter break and the longest
we could wait to make a month before winter break. All students would be in the middle
of 2nd period, so would have a designated teacher to guide them through their path.
 Friday, January 15th at 3:00 p.m. This fire drill will not include students as they are not on
campus at 3; it will be for staff-only so is at the end of the day so they can leave
following the drill. They will be expected the same path from their classroom.
 Monday, February 15th. At 8:15 a.m. February is a short month, and this is the only week
that does not include benchmark testing prior engagements. The beginning of the day is
less interfering with lessons and plans, and instructional time is valuable with such a
short month.
SAFETY CALENDAR 3

 Thursday, March 18th at 2:00 p.m. This is the week before spring break, and a day that is
usually spent doing “fun activities” since the quarter-grades closed. Students will all be in
9th period and will follow their teacher’s directions.
 Friday, April 30th at 3:00 p.m. This fire drill will not include students as they are not on
campus at 3; it will be for staff-only so is at the end of the day so they can leave
following the drill. They will be expected the same path from their classroom.
 Tuesday, May 18th at 11:00 p.m. This will be used to ensure understanding of fire drill
procedures before the new school year, considering the fire drill prior did not include
students.

Quarterly Lockdown Drills

 Training for staff would be given on the ½-day Wednesday, August 26th. The training
would include purpose and explanation of what the expectations for lockdowns are, and
local police officers will attend to provide scenario-training in preparing teachers (3
hours). Training for students which would include the same information without the
scenario-practice but with practice sessions with their teacher, would be expected to be
conducted during advisory base the week of September 7th.

 Tuesday, September 15th at 2:00 p.m. because it gives teachers a comfortable amount of
time to prepare during the first few weeks of school. Scenario: A school-volunteer from
the neighborhood area tries to get through the back-gate, asking students walking by to
let him in. When they refuse, he tries different entrances.
 Wednesday, December 2nd at 9:00 a.m. because it is the end of the second quarter and
gives teachers to prepare comfortably following the first practice drill. Scenario: A high-
school student who had attended the school for 6th-8th grade, arrives to the front office in
hysterics demanding to see an ex-teacher and threatens to use their weapon if not allowed
entrance.
 Thursday, February 18th at 11:10 a.m. because students are in a designated area, but not
all are classrooms so they would practice in a different setting. Scenario: A 7th grade
student pulls out a knife to show their classmate, and when the student informs the
teacher the student runs out of the class. When locked out of the classrooms, the student
knocks in hysterics and says sorry and cries for help; students need to decide how to
handle the situation.
 Friday, May 14th at 8:15 a.m. because it is the start of the school day, and the week before
the “end of the school year activities”. All students are in 2nd period. Scenario: A parent
attempts to enter the school through the back-gate. When they are denied entrance, they
break down the gate and walk through the campus with a weapon demanding to see their
student who they had lost custody of. They are assumed to “under the influence”.

One Full School Evacuation

 Friday September 25th at 7:30 a.m.- Initial training to discuss purpose and
implementation of a full-school evacuation with school staff
o Sixth grade will exit through the back-gate and buses will be established along the
parent pick-up area (3 buses)
SAFETY CALENDAR 4

o Seventh grade will exit through the basketball courts and buses will be waiting at
the bus bay. Special Education and Specials teachers will also exit this route. (3
buses)
o Eighth grade will exit at the front of the school and buses will be waiting lined up
at the parent pick-up space at the front of the office. Office staff will also exit this
route. (3 buses)
 Week of September 28th
o Teachers will be expected to inform their students on the evacuation-process and
lead one practice simulation to establish the route and behavior; this will be
expected to happen during advisory base.
o Administration will set up a date and time with transportation to be established
 Once loaded, the buses will evacuate to the nearest safe space. For this
practice, the buses will head to the transportation bay 10-minutes away.
When there, they will discuss their thoughts on the evacuation process
 Tuesday, October 6th at 10:00 a.m. because this does not interfere with transitions.
Teachers will be aware of the day but not the time, and students will not be aware of the
date.

Revisiting/Debriefing after each drill:

 At the end of each quarter, school administrators would meet to discuss their views of the
drills that took place during the quarter. They would administer a survey at the end of the
quarter before meeting, to receive staff feedback on how they viewed the success of the
drills. During the meeting, they would discuss the survey results and make adjustments to
improve the drills to meet the purpose of each.

Rationale

I collaborated with my principal mentor to draft this plan and discussed the collaboration

involved when my principal created the school emergency plan. Being a new principal this

school year, he shared that he discussed the plan used the previous year with the vice principal

and school office manager. He made amendments to the plan based off of their feedback and

discussed largely with our district health and safety representative, the plan to ensure its success.

I plan to include the same school staff when drafting my school emergency plan as a future

school principal. The primary purpose of the school vision is to establish a safe learning

environment for students, and the mission supports that by upholding student expectations
SAFETY CALENDAR 5

aligned with respect and trust, supporting a “safe learning environment”. Participating in drills

and learning the importance of being prepared in case of emergencies, students are more likely to

be safe during dangerous circumstances. The dates in the plan were set taking into consideration

important school commitments that may affect teacher abilities to enforce the drills effectively;

state-testing, benchmarks, holidays, breaks., etc. Legally, the drills had to fall in compliance with

the district health and safety procedures, which is why our district health and safety

representative was consulted. Morally, I understand the high importance of my role in preparing

students to be prepared and as safe as possible during any circumstances that can create danger.

Because of that, the plan was created to remind teachers of the importance of each drill every

quarter throughout the school year, which was intentional in the dates chosen to conduct each

drill.