School Safety

The Coffee County School System (CCSS) is committed to providing safe and secure learning environments. Our board of education makes annual, ongoing investments that provide safety and security to our physical buildings and also has programs in place that focus on the social and emotional well-being of our students and staff. This District School Safety Plan is designed to prevent or minimize the effects of serious violent incidents and emergencies and to facilitate the coordination with local and county resources in the event of such incidents or emergencies. The plan is consistent with the more detailed emergency response/safety plans required at the school building level. The schools are responsible for Safety, Code Blue and Emergency Preparedness Plans.

A. Purpose

The development of the District School Safety Plan is pursuant to HB763. At the direction of the board of education, the superintendent has appointed a District School Safety Team and charges it with making recommendations regarding the development, maintenance, and implementation of the district school safety plan in conjunction with our community partners, the Coffee Interagency School Safety Committee. The finalization of the plan ultimately rests with the superintendent and is updated annually.

B. Identification of School, District, and Interagency Teams School

School teams consist of students from that school, parents, teachers, district leaders, other school employees, community leaders, local law enforcement, juvenile court, public safety, and emergency management agencies. District - The District team consists of superintendent; assistant superintendents; and directors of personnel, assessment, federal programs, family connection, special education, special services, maintenance and transportation. Interagency - The Coffee Interagency School Safety Committee consists of students, parents, teachers, district leaders, other school employees, community leaders, local law enforcement, juvenile court, fire department, public safety, and emergency management agencies.

C. Coordination of District and School Plans

The District School Safety Plan is directly linked to the individual school safety plans. The protocols reflected in the district school safety plan guide the development and implementation of each school safety plan. In the event of an emergency or violent incident, the initial response to all emergencies at an individual school will be by the School’s safety team. Upon the activation of this team, the superintendent, or his/her designee, will also be notified and, where appropriate, any additional local emergency officials will also be notified. Efforts may be supplemented by county and state resources through existing protocols when needed.

D. Plan Review and Public Comment

A copy of the District School Safety Plan is available at the Coffee County School System board office located at 1311 S. Peterson Avenue, Douglas, Georgia and online at the district’s website (www.coffee.k12.ga.us). While linked to the district school safety plan, school safety plans shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure.

The District School Safety Plan provides the framework for the school safety plans. The purpose of a uniform plan is to ensure district-wide continuity for emergency responses. These general emergency responses will provide one consistent response system that will be used by all school employees, students, parents and emergency responders. This is particularly beneficial as students move from elementary to middle school and then to high school, and as full-time, part-time and substitute employees travel among the schools.

A. Identification of Potential Emergency Situations (on and off campus) CCSS has established procedures for the identification of potential sites and the internal and/or external hazards that may be present in them. These procedures are developed in coordination with the local Emergency Management Office, Fire Department and law enforcement agencies, and the use of a Risk Probability Checklist.

B. Actions in response to an emergency The CCSS has identified the following general response actions to emergency situations. These actions include: School cancellation (prior to start of day) Early dismissal Evacuation Sheltering Lockdown The confidential School Safety Plans include identification of specific procedures for each action depending upon the emergency. Emergencies include, but are not limited to:. -After hours building emergency Equipment Location

C. District resources and personnel available during an emergency CCSS has committed the full inventory of its resources to be available for use during an emergency. These resources will be utilized in line with the confidential School Safety Plans as deemed appropriate.

Implementation of School Security CCSS may conduct a security review of the facility, as needed, with the assistance of local law enforcement to determine what security measures should be adopted. Measures to be considered include: hall monitors, visitor badge/sign-in procedures, video surveillance, resource officer, and reporting mechanisms.

The following security measures are in place:

Visitor Sign-in: To identify visitors and purpose of visit

Substitute Sign-in: To identify authorized substitutes

Visitor Badges: To identify authorized visitors to students and staff

Fingerprinting: Background checks on new hires

Door Access System: To limit access to school buildings

Video Surveillance: To provide additional monitoring capability

Security Personnel on each campus: To provide school security

Time Management: To have record of staff on campus

School Guard: To quickly alert staff/911 of emergency

Gaggle: To be alerted about online emergency concerns

Online Anonymous Reporting: To report potential threats or concerns

Additional District Resources Available for Use in an Emergency

During an emergency, the district has the following resources available:

Emergency Procedures (Flipchart): Each building

Defibrillator: County office and every school

Smoke Detectors: Each building

Emergency lighting: Each building

Portable fire extinguishers: Each building and each bus

Spill cleanup / absorbent materials: Custodial areas

First aid Supplies: Each building - nurse’s office

Stop the Bleed Kits: Each building

GPS System Tracking of Vehicles: Buses/system vehicles

D. Procedures to coordinate the use of school resources during emergencies.

The lead for emergency actions is the superintendent or his designee. In building-level emergencies, the administrator-in-charge or his/her designee will act assume the role of lead. The lead is authorized to activate such resources and personnel as are appropriate to the incident and is empowered to render such decisions as may be necessary in keeping with the response actions as identified in the confidential building level emergency response plans.

E. Annual multi-hazard school training for staff and students.

CCSS will conduct annual training for both staff and students in school safety issues. Training will be planned by the superintendent and his staff. The training may consist of classroom activities, general assemblies, tabletop exercises, full scale drills or other appropriate actions to increase the awareness and preparedness of staff and students. Drills and other exercises will be coordinated with local, county and state emergency responders and preparedness officials. Existing plans will be revised in response to post-incident evaluations of these drills.

F. Staff development/training

All staff are required to complete training modules annually in the following areas:

       - Suicide Awareness and Prevention

                - Bloodborne Pathogens

G. Transportation

The district addresses security issues involving transporting of pupils to and from school and school functions when such transportation is furnished by the school or school system and school functions held during non-instructional time by training staff and bus drivers. Bus drivers also have monthly safety meetings.

A. Policies and procedures for responding to implied, or direct threats of violence or acts of violence by students, teachers, other school personnel and visitors to the school

CCSS has enacted policies and procedures dealing with violence. These policies and procedures deal with the safety of the school community as well as the range of discipline of those making the threat or committing the act of violence and are included in the CCSS Code of Conduct.

B. Appropriate response to emergencies 

CSS recognizes that appropriate response to emergencies varies greatly depending upon the actual threat or act as well as the magnitude of such emergency. The School Emergency Response Plans detail the appropriate response to such emergencies.

C. Policies and procedures to contact parents, guardians or persons in parental relation to the students in the event of a violent incident or an early dismissal

CCSS will contact appropriate parents, guardians or person in parental relation via media release, telephone contact or other appropriate means in the event of a violent incident or early dismissal. Conditions requiring such notification are outlined in the confidential School Emergency Response Plans.

The District School Safety Plan provides the framework for the school safety plans with regard to communication with other agencies.

A. CCSS is fortunate to have substantial ties to the Coffee County community. In case of an emergency within any one of our facilities, that facility would dial 911 for emergency assistance. If involvement were needed from other local government agencies, then the superintendent or their designee would act as that contact person. Additional procedures for communications can be found in the building-level safety plans.

B. Arrangements for obtaining advice and assistance from local government officials including city officials responsible for implementation of HB763 will be carried out through the protocols established in the district’s emergency response plan. The district has identified resources from the following agencies: Emergency Management Agency, City of Douglas, Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, Coffee County County Health Department, American Red Cross, City of Douglas Police, Coffee County Department of Mental Health and Coffee County Health/Safety/Risk Management Office.

C. If there is an emergency within the district that has the potential to impact bus transportation capabilities either to or from other educational agencies within the district boundaries, the Transportation Director in close coordination with the superintendent/designee will activate a phone tree to inform all necessary parties. There is a designated lead bus driver at every facility. If necessary, lead bus drivers are contacted to correspond with other drivers at their facility. In the event the phones are not operational, social media (Facebook, radio, television and district website) may be utilized to convey the pertinent emergency information.

D. Along with the phone tree, the district has access to the following information about each facility located in the school district, including information on:

Contact person

School population

Number of staff

Transportation needs

School map

Business and home telephone numbers of key officials of each facility

The details are considered confidential, due to the school specific information and administrator home phone numbers, and are located in the confidential School Emergency Preparedness Plan.

A. Policies and procedures related to district and school buildings security, including, where applicable, the use of school safety resource officers and/or security devices or procedures

CCSS utilizes visitor identification passes, reference checks and fingerprinting for all staff. The district priorities include creating and maintaining a single point of entry, security cameras, security window reception areas including restricted access doors, secure fencing and other outdoor measures, and additional security measures as needed. Each facility will maintain their respective security policies and procedures, as appropriate, and may be found in the confidential school safety plan.

B. Policies and procedures for the dissemination of informative materials

The district will work to identify youth at risk and to provide the necessary support services to all students, beginning at an early age. The district therefore will maintain resources on the early detection of potentially violent behavior, maintain a wellness committee of staff to evaluate at risk behaviors. Violence prevention information may be disseminated to parents, students or staff via newsletter, handbooks, mailings/handouts or meetings as appropriate. CCSS is committed to the use of interpersonal violence prevention education for all students, when available. Annual prevention training is conducted for instructional and support staff.

C. Prevention and intervention strategies

CCSS currently provides, but is not limited to, the following initiatives to improve communication and increase violence prevention and intervention: Character education and anti- bullying Conflict resolution/anger management Counseling Crisis prevention intervention PBIS - Positive Behavior Intervention System Peer mediation and adult/peer mediation Student support groups Wellness committees

D. Strategies for improving communication among students and between students and staff, and for the reporting of potentially violent incidents

CCSS recognizes that communication is a vital key in the prevention and intervention of violence in schools. To that end, CCSS will continue to explore programs based on program needs. The district referral process is utilized for the reporting of potentially violent incidents according to the building chain of command and following the CCSS Code of Conduct. Additionally, student counselors and/or school social workers are available each day for students to share information where the source can remain confidential. The district also uses threat detection software, applications and anonymous online reporting. Section VI: Recovery

A. Post-Incident Response

The Crisis Response Team will institute the Crisis Response Plan as outlined in the School Plans.

B. Disaster Mental Health Services

The superintendent , or designee, will assist in the coordination of Disaster Mental Health Resources and the implementation of the Crisis Response Plan. During the recovery phase of an incident, the district will reevaluate its current violence prevention and school safety activities and consider what the school can do to improve its plan.