DISTRICT-WIDE SCHOOL SAFETY PLAN

(Safe Schools Against Violence in Education)

INTRODUCTION

Emergencies in schools must be addressed in an expeditious and effective manner. Schools are at risk of acts of violence, natural, and manmade disasters. To address these threats, the State of New York has enacted the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) law. Project SAVE is a comprehensive planning effort that addresses prevention, response, and recovery with respect to a variety of emergencies in schools.

Charter schools are considered districts in and of themselves. Therefore, even as just one school with just one building, we are required to have both District and Building Level Project SAVE School Safety Plans. This document is the final version of Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School’s combined District-wide and Building-Level Project SAVE School Safety Plans (the ‘Plan’).

The Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School Safety Plan was developed by the Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School community.

Our goals in creating and implementing our School SAVE Safety Plan are:

• To create an atmosphere and set of practices that prevent violence or unsafe conditions
• To create/implement a plan that will minimize the effects of serious violent incidents and emergencies
• To have an effective response plan for all predictable safety concern situations
• To produce a document that can be used as the basis for informing and training all school constituencies in regard to keeping our school safe.

Plans will be produced for multi-hazard situations and will include plans for early dismissal.

Key School Data:

• Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School is operating in grades 6-12 and staff members.

• Grade 6 & 7 – 22 Marble Hill Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463
• Grade 8 – 3700 Independence Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463
• Grade 9 – 5959 Broadway Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463
• Grade 10 & 11 – 3840 Corlear Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463
• Grade 12 – 3893 Waldo Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463

• Chief Executive Officer: Colin Greene
• Chief Culture Officer: Christian Roman
• Chief Learning Officer: Elizabeth Nash
• Middle School Director: Zach Barlia
• Operations Director: Sanda Amarasinghe
• Student Transportation: Department of Education Pupil Transportation and Metropolitan Transportation Authority

SECTION I: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PLANNING GUIDELINES

1. Purpose

Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School’s District-Wide School Safety (SAVE) Plan has been developed pursuant to Commissioner’s Regulation 155.17. At the direction of the Board of Trustees of Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School (the ‘Board’), a District-Wide School Safety Team was created and charged with the development and maintenance of a District-Wide School Safety Plan.

In developing the Plan, the District-Wide School Safety Team followed safety plan guidelines distributed by NYSED. The Safety Team will review emergency response plans with security professionals.

Our goal in creating this plan is to ensure the maximum safety of all students and staff at our school through careful and well-considered planning. We will conduct tabletop and actual drills of included plans to facilitate organized and effective use of these plans in the case of an actual emergency.

2. District-Wide School Safety Team

The Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School District-Wide School Safety Team will be comprised of, but not limited to, representatives from the Board of Trustees, administration, parents, students, faculty, school safety personnel, and other school personnel. The District-Wide School Safety Team, charged with developing a District-Wide School Safety (SAVE) Plan, has been identified as follows:

Full District-Wide School Safety Team

3. Concept of Operations

The initial response to all emergencies at Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School will be by the Core School Safety Team. Upon activation of the Core School Safety Team, local emergency officials and the Board of Trustees will be notified as appropriate. Efforts may be supplemented by county and state resources through existing protocols as required.

The Core School Safety Team will also serve as the Emergency Response Team and Post Incident Response Team.

4. Access to Floor Plans

A set of floor plans and a diagram indicating School Evacuation sites and the routes students/staff will take to these sites will be provided to local emergency response agencies as part of the School Safety Planning process. Every member of the School Safety Team will have a copy of floor plans and evacuation route maps, and a copy of each will be included in the official School Safety Binder (maintained in the Main Office).

5. Plan Review and Public Comment

Pursuant to Commissioner’s Regulation, Section 155.17(e)(3), a summary of this Plan will be made available for public comment at least 30 days prior to its adoption. We will include representatives of all key School constituents and interested parties in the development and review of this plan, including a review at a PCO (Parent Community Organization). The Final Plan will be formally adopted by the Board. To ensure student safety, the plan will be considered ‘in effect’ until such time as a full public review can be conducted and the Final Plan approved.

Our Safety Plan will remain confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under Article 6 of the Public Officers Law or any other provision of law, in accordance with Education Law Section 2801-a.

This Plan will be reviewed periodically during the year and will be maintained by the District-Wide School Safety Team.

SECTION II: RISK REDUCTION/ INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

Prevention/Intervention Strategies

Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School believes strongly in the wisdom of implementing violence prevention and intervention protocols as a primary means of ensuring student/school safety. These protocols take the form of Prevention Programs, Building Personnel Training, Drills/Exercises/Student Training, School Security Policies and Protocols, Coordination with Local Emergency Officials, and Maintenance of Educational Agency contact information as per the below:

Prevention Programs

• Peace Curriculum (e.g. anti-bullying programs, violence prevention meetings, conflict resolution sessions, peer mediation, mentoring programs, extended day programs/clubs, other school safety programs, youth-run programs, forums for students concerned about bullying/violence, establishing anonymous reporting mechanisms for school violence/ bullying, etc).
• Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School will also create a positive, safe learning environment for students by creating and implementing school schedules that minimize the potential for conflicts or altercations.

Building Personnel Training

• In preparation for planning and executing drills, the Safety Team will review information/guidance on the NYSED and New York State Center for School Safety websites as well as Safety Plans from other schools.
• When hiring school safety/security personnel, the School will ensure all personnel have the appropriate background (experience and training) to fulfill their role, including training in how to de-escalate potentially violent situations.
• The School will review the detail of its Safety Plans with all faculty and staff on a yearly basis (including all plan logistics, roles and responsibilities, and backup plans), ensuring all are clear on all roles and responsibilities as well as logistics. Staff will sign off on having reviewed and understood School Safety Plans.
• At least 6 members of Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School’s District-Wide School Safety Team will take CPR and AED training.
• Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School staff members will receive Violence Intervention training.

Drills / Exercises / Student Training

• The Safety Team will conduct ‘table top’ exercises – playing through the execution of each of our multi-hazard plans using an actual school and neighborhood layout diagram.
• The School will review all emergency response plans with students on a yearly basis, to ensure all students understand expectations for their actions/behavior and that of the entire school community.
• The School will conduct mandated actual safety drills that test components of the School Safety Plan. The schedule for School Safety Drills is:

Implementation of School Security Policies and Protocols

School Safety/Security roles at Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School are expected to be as follows:

• School Security: 1, located as follows:
  • At start and end of the school day there will be 1 operations assistant/security guard/admin located at the front door
  • During the school day 1 school operations assistant/security guard/admin located at the front door
• Hall monitors: Faculty and Administration will monitor hallways before and after school and during class change times.

Other School safety protocols include:

• Only the front door of the school will be open at the start of the school day.
• All school visitors will be required to show identification upon entering the school building and to sign in at the main office. As appropriate, visitors will be escorted to classrooms.
• The Chief Culture Officer, Operation Leaders, Culture Leaders, Security Guard, and Main Office will be provided with portable radios to use in the event of an emergency drill or actual occurrence to ensure a means of communication.
• (See detailed plans for each type of emergency response in Section IV: Response)

Coordination with Emergency Officials

• Middle School Director, Middle School Grade Leaders, High School Grade Leaders, Culture Leaders, Operations Leaders or Chief Culture Officer will contact local emergency officials to review Emergency procedures, to verify contact protocols and information, and to coordinate their involvement in School Safety drills.

Maintenance of Vital Education Agency Information

An updated School Staff contact list (with cell phone numbers) will be maintained by the School Leader and placed within the School Safety Binder. This binder will also contain a list of all local emergency contact names and numbers (police, fire, hospital, Board Members), Emergency Contact Information for all school staff, and a sheet with the demographics of the school (number of students, number of staff, organization chart for the school). The school will also maintain an ‘AAPCS Emergency Contact Binder’ with Emergency Contact sheets for each student.