Parent Guide to School Emergencies

The Stroudsburg Area School District is committed to maintaining a safe and secure learning environment for our students and staff. The School District has established policies and procedures that have been designed to effectively deal with an emergency incident should it occur in our School District and community. These policies have been established in cooperation with the Pennsylvania State Police, which are valuable partners in our effort to maintain a safe and secure school environment. Each of our schools has its own emergency operations plan, specific to the building, the staff, and the students in that school. Additionally, we conduct safety and security drills and activities throughout the school year, to ensure our plans are being implemented correctly and to allow us to make adjustments as necessary.

Keeping Student Emergency Contact Information Updated :                                                                                                                                         During an emergency, it is vital that the school district have accurate and up-to-date emergency contact information for all students. In an emergency, the District will contact parents via telephone and email using the Blackboard Connect Notification Service. If your telephone number(s) or email address changes, please contact the main office at all of your children’s schools to get your updated contact information immediately entered into the database.

In an Emergency:
If an emergency situation would occur in our schools, parents will be notified by telephone and email using Blackboard Connect. An emergency message would include basic information about the nature of the emergency. In the event of an evacuation, you will also be notified where the students are being transported and where you can be re-united with your child. We have worked with local first responders to establish several reunification points throughout our District. Depending on the situation, we will establish a reunification point and notify you of the specific location, once it has been established.
The Stroudsburg Area School District continually strives to ensure the protection of all of our students and staff. The success of our emergency plans depends on the ongoing partnerships established with staff, students, parents and first responders. We appreciate your continued cooperation and support to keep our schools safe places for learning!

The District may also communicate with parents in an emergency via:
The District website: www.sburg.org
Social Media: On Facebook and Twitter
Local television stations and news media

How Parents Can Help In an Emergency Situation:
For the safety of everyone, parents are asked to wait for instructions from the School District regarding how you can be reunited with your child in an emergency situation.

Please do not call the school during an emergency. 
If you call the school during an emergency, you will probably not be able to speak with anyone, and you may tie up telephone lines that could be used for communicating with 911 and other first responders.

Please pick up your child at the Reunification Point.                                                                                                                                                    While we understand that emotions run high in an emergency situation and parents want to be reunited with their child as quickly as possible, parents who arrive at the school in an emergency will interfere with the ability of First Responders to do their jobs.
Please refrain from going to your child’s school and follow the instructions from the School District regarding where and when you can be reunited with your child. Our goal is to get you reunited with your child as quickly as possible, and parents who arrive at the school in an emergency situation will only delay the reunification process.

PLEASE NOTE: The Stroudsburg Area School District will release students only to the adult(s) designated on the Student’s Emergency Information Card. Photo ID will be required. Please be patient during the reunification process, as it is important to verify that students are being released to the proper adult(s).

Safety Practices and Procedures:
The Stroudsburg Area School District conducts a variety of safety drills throughout the school year, so students and staff can become familiar with the procedures associated with many different scenarios. These drills include fire, weather, emergency, and active shooter drills.

We encourage parents to talk about the drills with their children to emphasize the need to stay calm, not be scared, listen carefully, follow instructions and take the drills seriously. While it is our hope that a real emergency never occurs, these drills are an effective way to ensure that students and staff know and can follow the procedures in an emergency situation.