Throughout the course of the school year, school districts in NYS are required to conduct safety drills to ensure students and staff understand what they need to do in case of an emergency. While the drills are required by the state (eight evacuations and four lockdowns) they are also an important aspect of Schuylerville CSD’s safety plan.
On Wednesday, May 22, Schuylerville CSD will practice another important component of its safety plan, a campus evacuation drill. The main goal of this drill is to effectively practice evacuating all students and staff to an alternate location during the school day, utilizing the district’s transportation department.
There are a number of different circumstances or emergency situations that could cause the district to evacuate students including: severe weather and flooding, no electricity, a fire, hazardous materials, or a crisis near or at the school. A situation might apply to the entire campus or to individual campus buildings, but still warrant an evacuation. As with any emergency, there are multiple variables that could play a factor.
During the May 22 campus evacuation drill, Schuylerville students and staff will evacuate to Schuyler Park. In the event of a true emergency, the off-campus location could change, but the process would remain the same. Below is the schedule, which is broken into two phases:
- UPK – 8th Grade: Phase 1
- Grades 6-8 will begin evacuating at 9:20 a.m.
- Grades UPK-5 will begin evacuating at 9:30 a.m.
- It is estimated the process will take one hour from start to completion, including the time to evacuate, drive, unload and account for students, and drive back to campus.
- Grades 9-12: Phase 2
- Grades 9-12 will begin evacuating at 1:00 p.m. (period 8)
- It is estimated the process will take less than one hour from start to completion, including the time to evacuate, drive, unload and account for students, and drive back to campus.
An email will be sent to families upon the successful conclusion of both Phase 1 and 2 of the campus evacuation drill. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We thank our school community for their continued commitment to the safety and wellbeing of all.
James Ducharme
Acting Superintendent
Chief Emergency Officer