ECA-R – Safe School Procedures

Introduction

The procedures set forth below are designed to safeguard access to ConVal Schools for individuals who have legitimate reasons for being in the schools. These procedures have been established to properly identify all visitors to District buildings and regulate access in an effort to protect all students and staff. An effective access control policy will enhance the overall security of District buildings and prepare each building to respond to an emergency event.

Employee Identification
1. All permanent employees will be issued photo identification/proximity reader cards by the District at the time of initial employment or transfer to a new position, including continuing and long-term substitutes. IDs will be provided either through the Human Resources Office. In a limited number of instances, the Superintendent or designee may authorize the Human Resources Office to issue an identification card to a contractor providing services to the District on a regular basis.
2. All temporary or seasonal employees will be issued an ID card, valid for the term of their employment with the District. This ID must be worn at all times, while on District property.
3. At the beginning of his/her shift, a substitute will report to the main school office where he/she may be asked to surrender their car keys in order to be issued keys to lock classroom doors. Classroom keys must be returned at the end of the day to the administrator or their designee.
4. Official photo identification must be worn at all times by employees so that the ID is easily recognizable to other employees, visitors and students. Additionally, employees with keys to classroom doors shall wear those keys on lanyards at all times to provide immediate access to the keys in the event of a lockdown. Alternatives to lanyards may be approved by a school administrator.
5. Should an employee forget to bring his or her ID card and keys to school, the main office will issue a lanyard with a proximity reader/non-photo identification card and keys which can lock any classroom door. The employee may be asked to render his/her driver’s license or other form of identification to the school secretary at the time the lanyard is provided. The identification will be returned to the employee when the lanyard is returned at the end of the day.
6. Upon receipt of a personnel action form terminating a staff member from the employ of the ConVal School District, the HR Office or school principal will remove the employee from the access control system. The principal shall also retrieve the ID card and keys from the employee at the time of separation from the District and forward it to the Human Resources Office.
7. Each employee must immediately report the loss of an employee identification card to the principal or principal’s designee. The school office must then make arrangements with the Human Resources Office or school principal’s office, as appropriate, for the employee to obtain a new identification card.
8. An employee will be provided with one free replacement card once every three years. Thereafter, the employee will be charge $10 for each additional replacement of his or her identification card within the three-year period. The District will reissue identification cards to all employees on an annual basis.
9. Employee identification may be accepted for access at every school, although employees other than ConVal School maintenance personnel must sign in on the visitor logs in schools to which they are not routinely assigned, as a record of who is in the building.
10. There will be a zero tolerance policy for employees releasing their issued employee identification cards to other unauthorized staff members, students or members of the public. Staff members found in violation of this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.

Visitor Identification
1. All visitors are required to sign in at the school’s main office.
2. All schools will have a visitor log located in the main office for visitors to sign before proceeding further into the school. The visitor log shall consist of the date of the visit, the visitor’s full name, the time in and the time out, who he/she is visiting, and the purpose of the visit.
3. Each visitor will be required to display an official numbered school visitor pass on the outside of his/her clothing above the waist at all times until he/she signs out to leave the building. The pass will be a disposable sticker, and must include the visitor’s name as well as the school and date of the visit.
4. It is the responsibility of each visitor to sign out of the building each day and, if applicable, return his/her pass to the school office.
5. All visitor login sheets and other documents pertaining to visitor entry should be kept on file with the school for the duration of the school year.
6. All visitors to all school building main entrances and kitchen/loading dock doors will be screened by main office personnel viewing CCTV monitors and requesting visitors to state their names and business prior to entering the building.
7. School personnel have the authority to deny a visitor access to the building, and to request further identification before he or she is permitted to enter the building. In all cases where access is denied, an administrator shall be notified immediately of the circumstances of the denial. Personnel should not step outside of the building to conduct additional screening. If there is any indication that the visitor may be agitated, dangerous or unstable, the applicable Police Department should be immediately notified.

Vendor/Contractor Identification
1. Any vendor or contractor requiring access beyond the main office, kitchen or loading areas shall be required to sign in as a visitor and receive a numbered temporary visitor’s pass. Vendors shall present appropriate identification, such as an employee’s identification badge or driver’s license.
2. When delivery supplies or working inside a District building, the principal may require the vendor to be accompanied by authorized school personnel.

Occupancy Accountability
1. Each school must develop a procedure to access lists of all students present in the building at the point an emergency incident occurs at the school. These lists must be readily accessible and transferable during an emergency event. Each school should designate a primary and alternate staff member responsible for this task during any incident that requires occupancy information.
2. Any lists of adults present in the building shall be readily accessible and transferable during an emergency event, with a primary and alternative staff member responsible for this task during any incident that requires occupancy information.
Access Control During the School Day – Classroom and Building Doors
1. All classroom doors must be shut and locked when classrooms are unoccupied. Custodial and mechanical closets must also be locked at all times unless ConVal maintenance staff is present.
2. Doors may be unlocked for morning entry points for arriving students and dismissal passage at the end of the school day. All entrances must be locked during the school day from the start of classes until dismissal.
3. Building administrators have the discretion to temporarily unlock doors during the school day for special school events that may require usage of these doors by parents and other visitors to the events.
4. All school doors opened for arriving students, student dismissals, visitors for special events and other occasions during the school day shall be monitored by school staff.
5. All schools, where applicable, will develop a system utilizing theatre style roping systems to funnel visitors into the main office for screening upon building entry.
6. Unauthorized opening of perimeter doors exposes buildings to undue risk and defeats the purpose of the security system developed by the District. Because of the seriousness of this violation, the Director of Facilities and school administrators must make all reasonable attempts to identify and take appropriate disciplinary action against offenders.

School Dismissals
1. All schools must establish a dismissal process that allows for an orderly school dismissal, monitored by school personnel at each perimeter door utilized for the dismissal.
2. Schools shall follow the procedures for early dismissal of students as outlined in procedure JH-R, Student Attendance Procedures.
3. Any other special circumstances for dismissal, whether temporary or permanent, and requiring an older sibling, relative or neighbor to accompany a student must be authorized in writing and signed by the student’s parent or guardian.

After School Activities and Security Procedures
1. Following the dismissal of students, all school doors not designated as after school entrances should be secured by the school personnel at those doors. Within 30 minutes after dismissal school maintenance/custodial/school staff will insure that these school doors are secured and locked.
2. If schools do require access for after school activities, unique procedures for each school must be developed to allow for specific doors to remain open for those activities.
3. Each after school/weekend activity will have a designated advisor who is responsible for ensuring the supervision of participants

Access Control Program Administration
1. All access control technology and equipment will be purchased and maintained through the Facilities Department. Requests for repairs to access control technology and equipment must, therefore, be made through the Department’s work order process.
2. Any serious violations of access control policies and/or procedures may, in fact, be illegal and constitute trespassing or a violation of other criminal statutes. In circumstances where a criminal violation may exist, a report must be made immediately to the applicable Police Department.
3. In consultation with the Director of Facilities the Superintendent may authorize periodically conduct internal reviews or audits at the District or school level to assure compliance with policies and procedures.

Keys
1. All new ConVal School District keys must be stamped with an identification number in order to be correctly tracked and inventoried.
2. All schools will be responsible for maintaining a key log provided by the Facilities Department.
The key log will note each numbered key issued, who the key was issued to, what areas the key will unlock, and when the key was returned.
3. The school principal is responsible for ensuring that all keys are appropriately issued to new employees and documented through the key log, and for ensuring that all keys are appropriately returned and signed back in when an employee leaves the employ of the School District or transfers to another building.
4. An employee must immediately report a lost or missing key to the school principal or designee.
5. Inside master keys and outside master keys shall only be issued to administrative and maintenance staff. Outside master keys may only be issued to those staff members who have a pin code to arm/disarm the security alarm system.
6. There will be a zero tolerance policy for employees releasing their issued key(s) to other unauthorized staff members, students or members of the public. Staff members found in violation of this policy will be subjected to disciplinary actions, up to and including dismissal.

Alarm Codes
1. All requests to issue new alarm system pin codes or remove existing codes from the alarm system shall be approved by the Facilities Department. Staff members who do not hold an outside master key or have after-hours access privileges assigned to their access control employee identification card will not be issued an alarm system pin code.
2. It is the duty of the principal to immediately notify the Facilities Department of any staff member holding an alarm system pin code who leaves the employ of the District or transfers to another building.
3. Alarm system pin codes will only be issued to administrative staff, maintenance staff, and select school athletic staff.
4. There will be a zero tolerance policy for employees releasing their issued pin code to other staff members, students or members of the public. Staff members found in violation of this policy will be subjected to disciplinary actions, up to and including dismissal.

August 2016