Leadership for Learning

Standard 11: Leaders create and maintain institutional structures and processes that support learners and staff members in both stable and changing environments. 

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Self-Rating: 3

Faculty and students each have a handbook with expectations that cover almost every contingency. Handbooks are reviewed and updated yearly. Handbooks are reviewed with students at the beginning of the school year. Students and staff sign a receipt indicating they have received the handbook. In addition, parents/guardians sign to acknowledge the student has received the handbook. Emergency protocols are in place, with color-coded cards on display in each classroom. Teachers review the protocols with students before drills are practiced. Exit drills and lockdown drills are practiced monthly. The administration keeps a list of the drills and when they occurred. After each drill, teachers go over what has occurred with students under their supervision. This is a way to alleviate fears and concerns and to reiterate the reasons why we practice the drills. Administration also visits with staff to discuss the effectiveness of the drill and what might need to be changed.

 

Emergency plans are reviewed and modified according to emerging needs. A safety inspector tours the building and grounds annually to access needs. The Chambers Volunteer Fire Department chief makes recommendations with the most recent being the addition of new emergency lighting. The fire department conducts trainings with students such as exiting the school busses. They have brought a mobile unit to practice exiting a burning house. 

 

During COVID, the leaders had a plan in place to accommodate the different levels of the pandemic needs, such as wearing masks, social distancing in the school, and cleaning surfaces. Faculty were trained in the use of Zoom meetings and TEAMs to instruct students. Paper copies were also made available for students with inadequate internet. The school developed a guide as a reference for future incidences.

 

The building now has security cameras in hallways and by outside entrances. Entrances are protected with a buzzer-entry system. Intruder training was taken by faculty and staff.  

 

Mental health practitioners are available to staff and students on a weekly basis. Culture surveys are completed by stakeholders and recommendations are made based on those results. The Support team meets to discuss items and issues and how to address them. A recent item addressed was the possibility of staff badges/pins for identification. It was also discussed how to make the Suicide Hot Line contact information available to students, staff, and others.  

 

Chambers Public School leaders should continue to create and maintain institutional structures and processes that support learners and staff members in both stable and changing environments at Chambers Public School.