CRISIS RESPONSE PLAN

Curé of Ars Catholic School takes steps every day to protect students and staff. Our crisis response plan includes strategies to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis in our school.  

The most important thing we do to keep our people safe is keep the lines of communication open. You can help us with this by letting us know if you hear of anything suspicious or alarming, and encouraging students to do the same.

PREVENTION
The best way to address a crisis is to prevent it ever happening at all.  Curé of Ars Catholic School has several programs designed to address issues before they become crisis situations.

• Training to help our staff support the mental health of our students
• Bullying prevention programs, including a curriculum and an Unsafe Environment Reporting Tool.
• Uniformed police officers serving in our school as a school resource officer.
• School counselors.
• Secure buildings with locked exterior doors, photo ID badges for employees and check-in procedures for visitors
• Internal and external surveillance cameras at all buildings
• Partnerships with local law enforcement and mental health professionals on crisis prevention and student support

PREPARATION
Curé of Ars Catholic School’s crisis planning process includes preparing students and staff for possible dangers.  This includes;

• Regular drills at the schools for hazards like fires, severe weather, evacuations, intruders, and bomb threats.
• Regular updating of the crisis response plan
• Regular active shooter and intruder response training for all staff

RESPONSE
In order to make our crisis response plans as effective as possible, Curé of Ars worked with  first responders from area police, fire, ambulance, health and mental health departments. Together, we  formulated a plan that includes;

• Communication tools to notify families about crisis situations.
• Extensive plans for evacuations, relocations, lock-downs and many other safety measures.
• Secure online access for crisis responders to plans, maps, site hazards and necessary information about students and staff.

 
RECOVERY
After a crisis, Curé of Ars Catholic Church and school will work to help students and staff recover from the experience and get back to a sense of normalcy. This will include;

• Working with area counselors, local mental health workers and local clergy to provide counseling to those affected.
• Returning to the learning process as soon as possible.

PLANS FOR FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS
Together with our emergency responders, we are always striving toward identifying possible actions for improving Curé of Ars’ emergency preparation, which are aligned with a goal to ensure a safe, caring environment for students, staff and visitors.

If you have any questions or feedback about the school’s crisis response plan or our possible goals for improvement, please contact Mrs. McDonough in the school office at 913. 648.2620.