Emergency Procedures

How we will communicate

Safety is a top priority. Should an emergency arise, we will communicate to parents via:

  • District’s website at www.losal.org. Click on “Emergency Plan” link.
  • Recorded information on the impacted school’s telephone.
  • Recorded information on the District’s telephone at (562) 799-4700.
  • Local radio stations.
  • School marquee, when possible.
  • E-News. You can sign up to receive direct emails from the District. For directions on how to sign up, see bottom of page.

Please keep in mind that power outages or an overload of calls sometimes affect telephone lines.

General Emergency Release Procedures

For the safety of students, schools have specific procedures for releasing students in case of an emergency. We ask everyone’s assistance should the need arise. Staff is prepared to remain with students until all students are picked up. We do ask that you pick up your child as soon as an all clear is established. Every campus has stocked emergency supplies for an extended stay. Should it be necessary to transport students to another location, an information sign will be posted at the site. Parents may also check the District’s website for information.

Schools will never be closed mid-day and students sent home. No matter what the disaster or emergency, we will never send students home mid-day. If, at the end of the student’s regular school day, conditions seem safe, students will be sent home in the regular manner. If conditions do not seem safe, students will be held until a responsible adult can pick them up.

Students will be released to ANY responsible adult if the student answers “yes” to the following three (3) questions:

1. Do you know this person?
2. Do you want to go with this person?
3. Would it be alright with your parent(s) if you went with this person?

If a student answers “yes” to all three questions, the student will be released. The adult taking the student will have to sign the student out, indicating the time and location where they are going. If would be advisable for parents to have plans for alternate adults to pick up their student(s). School personnel will stay with all students until someone comes to pick them up.

Lockdown Procedures

A lockdown is used when a serious threat exists to the campus that would require student and personnel to remain in a locked facility for safety. (An example would be an armed intruder on campus.) During a lockdown the following procedures would take place:

  1. Student would drop, cover, and move away from windows, and remain in a locked classroom.
  2. Parents are asked not to come to the school to pick up students as both the parents’ and students’ would be endangered. At the conclusion of a lockdown, students will be released according to the General Emergency Release Procedures listed above.

Shelter-in-Place

Shelter-in-place is an emergency response procedure to protect students in the event of potential exposure to a dangerous chemical in the atmosphere. Shelter-in-place is a short-term measure (approximately two hours) that allows the contaminant to disperse.

If a dangerous chemical were released in the community and posed a threat to students during the school day, affected schools would be directed—most likely by public health or safety officials—to bring all students and staff members indoors (including those in trailers); to shut down all heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; and to close and secure all doors and windows. The neutral atmospheric pressure created by these actions would create a barrier and help keep chemical agents from leaking into the building.

During a shelter-in-place incident, public safety officials will secure the affected school building(s), and no people will be allowed in or out of the building(s) until an all-clear signal is given. While students are protected in the school building, parents will be sheltered in their own homes or places of work. The school District will make every effort to communicate the status of students to parents and the community. All emergency messaging systems will be used.

Shelter-in-place is the safest possible way to separate students and staff members from an outdoor hazardous environment. It is a temporary solution to a temporary problem. Shelter-in-place will be used when needed, not to keep students from parents, but to keep them safe until their parents can safely reach them.

Once the contaminated air has passed, public safety officials would evaluate the situation. At that time, they will either give the school clearance to resume safe and normal operations or request that the school be evacuated for cleanup operations. In the case of an evacuation, students will be safely transported by bus to another location.

Shelter-in-place is a short term measure (minutes or hours, not days) designed to use a facility and its indoor atmosphere to temporarily separate people from a hazardous outdoor environment. The alternative would be to evacuate into a hazardous situation thereby causing harm to all involved. Shelter-in-place is ended as soon as the outdoor air is safe for students (and parents) to breathe.

Watch TV, listen to radio, and check the internet often for official news and instructions as they become available. At the conclusion of a shelter-in-place incident, students will be released according to the General Emergency Release Procedures listed above.