Burr Safety Day—Oct. 23

October 19, 2018

Dear Burr Families,

Every year the Burr staff and students go over building safety protocols and procedures to ensure that we are prepared in the event of an emergency. We plan to introduce all of these drills to students on one day and then revisit them as needed throughout the school year.

Burr 2018 Safety Day will be on Tuesday, October 23th.

The essential drills that we will practice that day are:

+Fire drill: As children’s classrooms change they have to learn the building exit routes for their new classrooms. We have already had one practice run through as a whole school.

+Shelter in Place: All children and teachers stay in their classrooms and learning continues. There is limited or no use of hallways.

+Lockdown: All children and teachers stay hidden and quiet in classrooms. All classroom and hallway doors are locked. This protocol would be used if there were a threat in the building.

This year we will not practice walking to Franklin School which is our off site evacuation location. This drill is practiced every other year with students, and reviewed by staff annually.  

The Newton Police & Fire Departments will join us for parts of the day and provide feedback to make sure we are executing all drills appropriately.

Teachers are preparing children for the day. They will provide them with the concrete information of what we will be doing, how we will be doing it, and why. The goal is to deliver this information in a calm, matter-of-fact, and reassuring way.  We will remind children that there are many adults at school to keep them safe. We do not want to scare them. We want children to feel empowered because they know what to do in an emergency. Generally speaking, less detail is better. Your child’s classroom teacher may share additional information with you. If you have any questions and concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.      

Sincerely,                                                                                

Mindy Johal