Evacuation Plan

Current events and situations have heightened everyone’s awareness and concerns for the safety of our students. The following information is to make you aware of the appropriate precautions and procedures we will be implementing in the event there is an emergency. Should situations warrant our confinement in secure locations on site, at the P.S. 16, we will move all of our students and staff into the auditorium and gymnasium. We also have the Annex as an extra location should we need to relocate a small amount of children

In the event of an emergency evacuation at the P.S. 16, our students will leave the building under supervision, and in an orderly manner. Staff will supervise all students during this process as we relocate to safe, secure alternative sites. At these sites appropriate P.S. 16 staff, under the direction of specific supervisors, will supervise students.

These sites include:

Should the evacuation necessitate that we leave the school and surrounding area, we will relocate to:

OVERFLOW

Public School 31                             55 Layton Avenue                        (718) 273-3500

Staten Island, New York 10314

If an evacuation is necessary during the course of the school day, we will work with the New York City Police Department, the New York City Fire Department, the Department of Education and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management in ensuring an orderly and safe evacuation. The safety and welfare of our students and staff members will be the priority of all agencies. All school staff, including security personnel and administrators, will be assigned to the evacuation site.

In an emergency, situations change quickly and sites which are initially identified might change without warning. We will begin to contact all parents as soon as we are settled in our safe location.

It is critical, for the safety of your children, that you impress upon them the necessity of listening to school staff in the event of an evacuation. Supervisors and school staff will monitor attendance of students so as to be better able to assist parents in locating their child. Students who do not follow evacuation directions communicated by school staff, and who leave the school building and the immediate school vicinity, place themselves, and others at risk. I must remind you that providing your child with a cell-phone is a violation of the Department of Education Chancellor’s Regulations. Despite the initial sense of security you may feel by providing your child with them, our experience is that they usually result in more distress. This is especially important when we are unable to determine where your child is, because they were permitted to act independently by you over the phone and without our knowledge. Further, you place others at risk while we are trying to affect an orderly and cohesive procedure for all our children.

Please be confident that staff will remain with our students for however long it may be necessary to ensure your child’s safety.