Emergency Information for Families

Inclement Weather School Closing

In the event of inclement weather, The Cedarburg School District will send an automated message to all district families.  Local media and the district  and school websites will also post closings and delays.  Please view the Superintendent letter for more information.

District Emergency Response 

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.

Please see the documents below for an overview of safety procedures and helpful links to resources for families.

School Emergency Information Guide for Parents and Guardians

New Fire Drill Protocol

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.

A.L.I.C.E.

Alert, Lockdown & Barricade, Inform, Counter & Swarm, Evacuate

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 ncludes 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.

Resources:

https://www.alicetraining.com/news/press-release-posts/independent-research-finds-traditional-lockdown-is-no-longer-a-viable-stand-alone-option-in-school-shootings/

https://www.alicetraining.com/news/press-release-posts/alice-training-institute-recognized-by-am-best/

https://www.alicetraining.com/about-us/alice-in-action/

Safety & Security

Below is a list of our safety and security measures deployed 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.

District utilizes an Emergency Message System (EMS) that:

• 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

Safety and Security Measures Currently Under Development

• Installing fire pull station covers
• Developing infrastructure for text messaging of lockdown alerts to staff, parents, students, administration and CPD
• Arranging for training of select team members in the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evaluate) response process
• Implementing supervised and restricted entrances at all buildings before school and throughout the school day
• Activating cell phone lockdown system for designated individuals
• Implementing lockdown capabilities from all school phones
• Installing lockdown activation push buttons
• Implementing a Community Safety Tip Line

Emergency Communication

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. 

Riteway Text Alert System

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.