Community Notice

Notice of Saftey Drills

To All Parents and Guardians:

The safety of your child and all children in our schools as well as the safety of the school staff and support personnel is very important to us. In order to maintain a safe environment for our children to study and learn, it is necessary that we practice our emergency and crisis response plans by having drills designed to exercise our procedures. Due to the current national climate that we live in, we will be conducting various drills throughout the remainder of the school year, and each subsequent school year. This letter is to help you understand the importance of this as well as to understand each type of drill.

The students and staff will be practicing 4 primary emergency drills this year:

• Fire Drills
• Lockdown Drills
• Shelter In Place Drills
• Evacuation Drills

Each type of drill is explained below.

Fire Drills

The school will conduct a “fire drill” each month that the school is in session. This is a Fire Code requirement as well as a requirement for all Orleans Parish schools. We want each student to understand and be aware of the importance of this drill and not be afraid when the fire alarm is sounded. By practicing they will know what to do and how to do it.

Lockdown Drills

The school will conduct one “Lockdown Drill” periodically throughout each school year. This type of drill will secure the school building and safely shelter all students, staff, and visitors inside the building. The purpose of this drill is to keep the students safe from any danger outside or inside the building. During a “lockdown drill” all of the perimeter doors to the school building will be locked and will remain locked until the danger or issue outside or inside the building is removed. To ensure everyone remains safe, no one will be allowed to enter the building or leave the building until the drill is completed.

Shelter-in-place Drills

The “Shelter-in-Place” drill will be conducted each school year. The purpose of this drill is to be prepared to move to a safe location within the building in case of severe weather or tornados.

Evacuation Drills

During an “Evacuation Drill”, students will be safely escorted along a designated evacuation route to one of our pre-determined evacuation sites. At the conclusion of the drill, all students will be escorted back to the school.

For the safety of everyone involved and to maintain order, we respectfully ask that you would abide by the following during these drills:

• Do not come to the school campus
• Do not call the school offices (as they will be busy with the drill or actual emergency)
• Do not contact students or staff members via cell phone or social media (as they will be busy with the drill or actual emergency)
• Avoid social media posts. Correct information will be disseminated through our automated system as soon as possible.
• Please make sure that your contact information is current at all times so that you can be reached without delay in the event of an emergency.
• In the event of an actual emergency evacuation, you will receive a notification of where to pick up your child as soon as practicable.

Please remember that these safety practice drills are done to help maintain our schools as safe places to learn and work.

If you have any questions regarding any of these Safety Drills or other safety concerns, please contact the front office.

The New Orleans Charter Science & Mathematics High School

2011 Bienville Street | New Orleans, LA 70112