AUSD provides all of its schools and facilities with protocols and training for emergency situations such as campus intruders, unsafe situations in the neighborhood, and natural disasters. AUSD developed these procedures in collaboration with local and regional emergency responders, based on national best practices.  
 
We keep detailed procedures confidential to protect students and staff. But  throughout this newsletter, you can find summaries of how schools will respond to a number of different adverse, urgent, and emergency situations. All AUSD schools also have comprehensive safety plans that address campus risks, prepare for emergencies, and create safe learning environments for staff and students. These plans are updated annually.

AUSD has implemented a district-wide notification system that allows any district employee to inform the campus of an unsafe situation. Staff members in any location can initiate school-wide emergency protocols. These notification systems and options allow for a rapid securing of rooms or the whole campus using the PA system, phones, and computers from almost any location on campus with a phone or computer.  

All schools practice a emergency procedures with their staff and students several times every school year.

Lockdown and shelter in place drills (no simulation) 

• Elementary schools: three times a year
• Secondary schools: four times a year 

Our lockdown training includes ALICE protocols (see details below). It is important to note, however, that training is always age-appropriate and takes place in the classroom with the teacher leading the discussion. Discussions with younger students are an extension of “stranger danger” discussions and focus on listening carefully to the teacher in case of an emergency and following directions promptly. We do not conduct realistic scenario drills with younger students. 

In previous years, AUSD school leaders haveparticipated in joint emergency exercises prior to the school year with both the Alameda Fire Department and the Alameda Police Departments. Those types of rehearsals and partnership components will continue as we move forward.  
   
Fire drill 

• Elementary schools: once a month
• Middle schools: four times a year   
• High school: two times a year

Earthquake drill 

• All schools practice earthquake procedures on the Great Shakeout Day

If you would like to observe your child’s school during an emergency drill, you may do so by contacting the building principal. 

Every school campus in AUSD has a three-day emergency supply for students and staff that is located in an emergency container separate from the school buildings. This supply includes emergency food, water, first aid supplies, flashlights, emergency medications (for students who have provided them to the school). Emergency supplies are checked every year to be sure they are complete and up to date. 

If there is a situation that requires us to remove students from their campus, we will transport them to a location where we can safely reunite them with their families. 

Depending on the communications systems available, families will be notified of the location and time of the reunification through some combination of the following: 
 

• Robocalls
• Text alerts 
• Parentsquare posts
• Postings on the AUSD and school websites
• Postings on AUSD social media feeds
• Signs posted on the front door of the school
• Local television and radio stations

Parents (or the designated emergency contact) will need to show photo identification to pick up their children.  

Mental Health

Alameda Unified understands the importance of mental health considerations in young people in general, and also the significant percentages of school-based safety events where mental health plays a role. As such, social-emotional learning is woven throughout our curriculum at all grade levels.  All 10th grade students also recieve a three-day course in Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA), which teaches them how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among their friends and peers. 

In addition:

• AUSD annually contracts with community-based mental and behavioral support services so that practitioners are available to students in our district

• We invest nearly $1,000,000 per year in the staffing of Intervention Leads at all sites; positions that help identify and support not only academic but socio emotional needs  

• We partner with Care Solace, an online resource with live 24/7 staffing that helps students, staff, and families find local mental health-related programs and counseling services.

Campus Security
In recent years AUSD has taken a number of steps to improve campus security, including installing California safety locks on all doors; expanding the number of surveillance cameras on our high school and middle school campuses; building  perimeter fencing and gates around our schools; reconfiguring offices so that all visitors have to sign in to get on campus; and hiring more middle and high school campus supervisors.