I hope you had a wonderful start to your school year.
The safety of our Cohoes City School District students and staff is our top priority. We implement a number of measures as part of our District Wide Safety Plan. Each building also has a confidential building-level emergency response plan with specific procedures. The following list explains steps the district may take as part of its Emergency Response System:
- Shelter-In-Place is used to shelter students and staff inside the building.
- Hold-In-Place is used to limit movement of students and staff while dealing with short-term emergencies.
- Evacuation is used to evacuate students and staff from the building when leaving the building is the safest alternative.
- Lockout is used to secure school buildings and grounds during incidents that pose an imminent concern outside of school. Students who are outdoors are brought inside. All exterior doors are locked, and windows are closed and locked. In a lockout, classroom instruction continues as normal. Anyone wishing to enter or leave the building must first be cleared by a building administrator and/or police.
- Lockdown is used to secure school buildings and grounds during incidents that pose an immediate threat of violence in or around the school.
As required by New York State Education Law, and to ensure these procedures are effective, we practice by conducting drills, including lockdown drills. Before our drills, staff will talk to students about procedures and why they are important. You will be notified of upcoming drills by your child’s administrator within one week of the scheduled drill via ParentSquare. This message will specify whether the drill is a lockdown drill or an evacuation drill.
For further information regarding lockdown drills please read our Frequently Asked Questions located on the district website.
If you have any questions about the emergency response protocols in your child’s building, please reach out to their principal. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions as well. We appreciate your support in keeping our schools a safe and welcoming place to learn.
With Tiger Pride,
Peggy O’Shea
Superintendent