CSD SAFETY AND SECURITY
Below is a list of the safety and security measures deployed at the Cedarburg School District on a regular basis. This list is not comprehensive and includes only those items appropriate for the public. There are additional security precautions in place that must remain confidential as to not compromise our safety or security measures.
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- Regular emergency drills (fire at least 6x, lockdown 2x, severe weather 2x)
- Regular lockdown drills in all buildings under the guidance of Cedarburg Police Department
- Annual AED/CPR/First Aid training of staff
- Annual review and staff training on the district crisis response processes
- Regular building and district safety team meetings
- Building and district level emergency response exercises
- District utilizes an Emergency Management System web-site
- Locked facilities and electronic access to all necessary doors
- Supervised main entrances with controlled access
- Strategically located exterior cameras at all buildings
- Strategically located interior cameras at the middle and high schools
- First Responder access to all cameras
- Strategically located first aid kits, trauma and AED kits throughout the buildings
- Ability to alert EMS and secure all exterior doors at the elementary and middle schools from the school’s main office.
- Ability to alert EMS and secure all exterior doors at the high school from the main office and other security checkpoints
- Coordinated electronic communications with key school personnel in each building
- Building walkthroughs to conduct door checks throughout the school day
- District Police School Liaison Officer, primarily stationed at the high school, who works with our elementary and middle schools on specific safety measures
- Police walk-through in all buildings
- Police training using our facilities
- Coordination with the Police Department and Fire Department on all safety drills
- Required staff security badges as well as electronic access to any outside door
- An emergency transportation plan with Riteway Bus
- Emergency Response Plan for families in the event of an emergency
- Administrators met with leaders from the Cedarburg Police and Fire Department regarding the assessment of fire drill protocol
- District leadership attended a safety and security summit
- Revamped fire drill evaluation protocols
- Improved the integrated lockdown system that activates lockdown command, locks exterior doors, and notifies all administration and CPD simultaneously
- Administrators met with Wisconsin Senator regarding school security measures
- Secured firm to conduct a district-wide safety and security assessment of each site
- Notifies students / staff of emergencies in the buildings
- Locks all exterior doors
- Communicates with emergency responders
- Initiates repeated PA message throughout the building regarding a lockdown (“This is not a drill.”)
- Locks all exterior doors when activated
- Communicates to the Police regarding district lockdown
- Communicates to the other schools’ main offices from a district building that goes into a lockdown
- Initiates a lockdown from designated cell phones
- Provides the ability to send emergency text message to designated cell phones
- Fire pull station covers installed
- Infrastructure in place for text messaging of lockdown alerts to staff, parents, administration and CPD
- Select team members trained in the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evaluate) response process
- Supervised and restricted entrances at all buildings before school and throughout the school day
- Lockdown activation push buttons installed in all offices
- Lockdown capabilities from all school phones
- Installed a Community Safety Tip Line
- Under Development: Activating cell phone lockdown system for designated individuals (Implementation Fall 2023)
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Cedarburg School District is committed to providing a safe environment for students, staff, and visitors. As such school district personnel have worked to strengthen and coordinate Emergency Response Plans. Additionally, we work closely with national, state and local safety officials such as police, fire, emergency management, and public safety officials – to ensure our schools are well prepared in the event of an emergency.
Each school conducts drills throughout the school year to help students and staff prepare for possible emergencies. Good planning and practice will facilitate a rapid, coordinated, and effective response should a crisis occur. Children and youth rely on and find comfort in the adults who protect them. Knowledge of what to do in the time of crisis can help students and adults be prepared and calm in the time of crisis.
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The Cedarburg School District communicates with families in a variety of methods. Communication during emergency situations will be sent using the School Messenger/Skylert application. Families are encouraged to keep their Skylert communication methods and contact information current by logging in to Skyward Family Access and configuring preferences for phone, email and text message communication. Instructions to do so may be found here.
The district and school websites will be updated as necessary with essential information as available.
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The Cedarburg School District recognizes that staff and students need to be well trained to respond to active threats in the most effective and appropriate manner. Over the years, we have taken many steps to enhance our safety and security measures throughout the district. Working closely with experts from inside and outside our community, we have improved all aspects of our safety infrastructure. However, there’s still more that can be done.
The district’s current work focuses on improving our responses to a violent threat (armed intruder) within one of our buildings. Schools across the country have used a method we call Lockdown to respond to an armed intruder. In the event an unauthorized person enters the school buildings or grounds, a Lockdown alert is given; and students and staff are instructed to lock their classroom doors, turn out the lights, hide in the farthest corner of the classroom, and remain calm and quiet. This is the procedure that we, and most districts, have followed for years; but we now know that we must provide students and staff with more options. Law enforcement experts have concluded that providing staff and students with more options, besides the traditional lockdown response, will prove more effective.
Our district has enhanced the Lockdown procedures that we, as well as experts across the country, believe will increase the chance of survival during a critical violent incident. The enhancements we will teach our staff and students are known as ALICE. ALICE is a federally endorsed safety protocol.
The letters ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate:
- Alert - get the word out using clear concise language and describe the location of the event.
- Lockdown - a good starting point, the Lockdown includes locking the door but also barricading to deny entry.
- Inform - continual communication keeping the staff and students informed allows for good decision making.
- Counter - as last resort, if an armed intruder is able to get into the space that they are in; staff and students are applying skills of movement, noise, distance, distractions and using our overwhelming numbers to gain control of the situation (age and ability appropriate).
- Evacuate - if safe to do so, all are encouraged to evacuate the building, and remove themselves from the threat.
In NO WAY are we asking or teaching our students or staff to make any attempt to subdue an armed intruder outside of their secure area. Under ALICE training, staff and students are oriented to different options to respond to a school intruder who is intent on doing harm. In certain circumstances, the “lock the door and hide” strategy might be appropriate. In some cases, the teacher and students might take precautions to barricade the entrance(s) of the classroom. Under certain conditions, it might be the best decision for the teacher and students to flee the building. It is the intention of ALICE that the strategies provided will improve responses to an intruder and reduce casualties.
Please contact your building principal if you have any questions about the ALICE program or if you prefer that your student not participate in the training. We look forward to working with our students to provide them with skills they might need at school and in the community if confronted with a violent intruder. Please expect further communication from building principals regarding the next steps for training in their schools.
Our goal is to ensure that students and staff are prepared for life beyond the school setting.
Learn more about ALICE here.
Additional Resources:
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Each time there is a scheduled fire drill, the school principal will announce the drill to all students and staff, via the intercom, and direct all students and staff to evacuate the building when the alarm sounds. This is a change from past practice, where State Statute required drills with no advanced warning. If no such announcement is made by the principal prior to the fire alarm, the alarm will be treated as such and staff and students will evaluate following regular protocol while maintaining “situational awareness”.
For all scheduled fire drills, the CPD will be notified and will be onsite prior to students exiting the building. The police officers will position their cars onsite and will have their warning lights activated to heighten their visibility. Additionally, one police officer will go into the building to perform an assessment of the situation and assist school staff. In the event of an unexpected fire drill, officers will respond accordingly treating the alarm as an emergency.
The change in police response has been coordinated with the CPD and the CFD. Principals will be working with their respective staff and students to educate them on the additional security steps taken during fire drills.
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The Cedarburg School District uses the Raptor Visitor Management System at all district schools to strengthen our program of campus safety for students and faculty. The Raptor system enables school officials to know who is in the school buildings at all times which is a key part of keeping the school community safe. The Raptor system screens visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provides us with a safer environment for our students and staff.
Upon entering schools in the district, visitors will be asked to present an ID such as a Driver’s License, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the Raptor Visitor Management system. If a visitor for any reason does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those not planning on entering the building beyond the main office.
Upon leaving the building, visitors check out of the Raptor system by scanning the badge in the office or security desk.
The Raptor scanner collects the ID photo, name, date of birth, and the last four digits of the license number (the other digits are replaced with ***). If two or more visitors have the same first name, last name, and date of birth, Raptor uses the last four digits of the license number to differentiate between them. Only the minimum data needed to accurately identify an entrant is collected (i.e., no address information, no Social Security Numbers, no physical characteristic data, etc.). No other data is collected from the ID and no photocopy of the ID is retained.
The data is used to ensure that the district/school maintains a log of all visitor and other entry data through the front office, and the district/school can instantly check that data against two databases: 1) a database of the registered sex offenders in all 50 U.S. states, and 2) a custom database populated by school administrative personnel which can contain entry alerts such as custodial orders, known gang members, etc. No data is shared with third parties. (more information on Raptor Data Collection and Security).
The safety of our students is our highest priority and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students. Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.
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In the event of inclement weather, The Cedarburg School District will send an automated message to all district families. Local media, district, and school websites will also post closings and delays. Please view the Superintendent's letter for more information.
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The transportation provider for the Cedarburg School District, Riteway Bus Service, Inc., has established a text alert system where individuals can receive notifications through their cellular phone regarding transportation service updates. These text alerts will be used in conjunction with the Skylert messages sent out by Riteway anytime there is a delay in service. Whereas Skylert messages are sent out to individuals based on their specific bus route, these text alert messages from Riteway will be sent on all routes when there is a service update. Click HERE to subscribe or unsubscribe to this service.
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