Colegio Americano de Quito has developed an institutional plan of Civil Defense whose main objective is to be prepared to face any emergency situation in order to promote safety on campus. All school staff must remain on alert and be ready to act.
The teaching and administrative staff are trained by the Civil Defense and Security Department coordinators, they know their duties and responsibilities in case of an emergency that would require the initiation of one of the following operational plans, in regular and/or extracurricular hours:
It is executed in case of earthquake, fire or any emergency that requires evacuation to safety zones.
When an earthquake is felt say the word EMERGENCY, so that the students seek shelter under the tables or desks, while they cover their head and neck with their arms in order to protect themselves. When the movement passes, observe if the evacuation routes are free and continue with step 2
When you hear the siren and message of evacuation to safety zones command your students to leave the classroom. If the siren does not sound, guide your students to follow the arrows painted on the corridors and/or floor to safety zones.
KEEP CALM.
In any evacuation process you should move away from windows, bookshelves or heavy objects that can fall from walls, shelves, cabinets, etc.
Practice with your students as many times as possible.
Teachers who do not have students during an internal evacuation process should go to the evacuation area closest to the area they are in and direct students and visitors to the safety area.
Parents: Should go to the nearest security zone.
Visitors: Should go to the nearest security zone.
To be executed in case of eruption, earthquake or any emergency that requires evacuation from school with the participation of parents.
Nursery students remain in their classroom and do not meet with older siblings.
The siren and verbal information of the Directors through the P.A. system announces the beginning of the operation, with a meeting of families for external evacuation.
Stay in the classroom with the students you are in charge of.
Students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade who have younger siblings in school (up to Pre-kinder) must be sent, with all their belongings, to the classroom of their younger sibling. The teachers have a list of students leaving the classroom and older siblings who arrive in the classroom.
The evacuation plan does not include cousins, only siblings.
Report students who have missed school or have not arrived in their classroom to the Directors or Coordinators of Civil Defense.
Send students who have health problems to the Medical Department.
Complete the evacuation form with the names of the persons authorized to remove the students from the school. If the person who removes them is not registered in the evacuation lists (emergency contact), the person must process the authorization with the secretary of the section.
Verify with the students the identity of the person who picks them up.
Deliver students to the authorized person, along with the evacuation form with the classroom teacher’s signature of responsibility, or with the evacuation form provided by the section secretary, so that the person who takes the students turns it in at the Control Post at the time of leaving school.
Request help from the corresponding director or the Civil Defense Coordinator, if needed.
Stay on campus until the last student in the school has been evacuated.
Provide the Director of his/her section with the list of the class with the names of students and people who removed them from the classroom.
Nursery students must be removed from their Nursery classroom by their parents, legal representatives or authorized person.
The other students of the school (from Pre-kinder to 2nd grade) are grouped by families.
Parents, legal representatives or authorized persons should go to the classroom of the younger son/daughter, where the whole family will meet, in order to evacuate them from the School. Remember that it is essential to present the evacuation form signed by the classroom teacher to remove the students from the classroom.
If the person who removes the students was not previously authorized, and therefore does not appear on the student’s file, he or she must request authorization from the section secretary to remove the students from the school.
The evacuation form signed by the classroom teacher or extended by the section secretary, must be presented at the checkpoints (doors to the school) to remove the students from the school.
Vehicle access to the street Manuel Benigno Cueva (main entrance of the school) will be blocked except for ambulances and vehicles of civil defense.
Depending on the magnitude of the emergency, parents will have the following spaces to park at their disposal:
Information Centers will be enabled throughout the school, with staff that will have the list of students available for any query. The secretary’s offices of each section will also function as Information Centers.
The aid stations (first aid) will work in the Medical Department, exit to the parking lot of buses, Basketball Court behind Middle School, Orientation Classroom of National Primary.
We will have control posts in the following places:
All visitors must evacuate the school immediately.
An emergency is any situation that endangers the safety of students, teachers and staff. These events may be actual or imminent.
Keep calm, remember that the School is a safe environment.
1. Be patient if you cannot communicate with the School, lines may be busy.
PBX 3976-300 / 0995651079 / 0995651080 / 0995651081 / 0995651082
2. Be careful when driving to School.
3. Follow the entry routes of the attached map.
4. We will have different parking lots available for emergencies:
5. When you arrive to these areas, there will be staff from the School to assist you.
In the enrollment process, all families must register the name of the emergency contacts for their children (persons authorized to remove them from the School) in the event that the Authorities decide that students should be evacuated by their families.
The data for the registration of emergency contacts are: full name, relationship/student relationship, identity card, electronic mail, home/work telephone, cell phone number. The emergency contacts will be printed on the evacuation list of the teaching staff in each classroom. If the name of the person withdrawing the student is not listed in the classroom evacuation list, the parents and/or representatives must authorize the Secretary of the corresponding Section in writing so that the School authorizes the departure of the students.
.: Download External Evacuation Routes Map
.: Download Primary National Map
Lockdown Operative Plan
A Lockdown of the School is when students, faculty and staff are confined in their classrooms/offices/enclosed spaces because of a perceived or actual threat. The purpose of a Lockdown drill is to prepare students and staff in the event of a potential emergency, such as the presence of an armed person on campus.
In case of any emergency that may require a Lockdown, the Director General, section or area authorities and security department must be notified.
The School Directors will meet at the office of the Director General, where the Emergency Management Team is activated. The Office of the Director General is the center of operations.
The general alert will be given by the Director General through the P.A. System:
“School faculty and Staff, we begin lockdown procedures. This is a drill”
“Toda la comunidad del Colegio inicia el proceso de Lockdown/bloqueo. Este es un simulacro”.
If the emergency is real, the Director will not mention the Word drill.
While the operative plan is in process by drill, the authorities of each section will verify the strict monitoring of the Lockdown procedures.
The drill will be over when the Director General announces it through the P.A. System:
“The drill is over. School Secured. Everybody goes back to regular activities.”
“El simulacro terminó. El Colegio está seguro. Todos vuelven a sus actividades.”
Lockdown procedures are as follows:
All persons who are outdoors should direct students to the following areas:
Students and staff will continue with regular activities upon hearing notice that Lockdown is complete.
In a real emergency that may require a Lockdown, all school personnel, without exception, will be kept behind closed doors and no one will be allowed to walk on campus during the emergency, except for members of the police who are tending to the emergency call.
Keep in mind that in a real emergency situation, when you hear shots or similar noises on the campus, everyone should follow Lockdown procedures without waiting for an announcement through the P.A. system. The school staff should block classrooms and offices immediately if they perceive a threat to security.
In a real emergency, the Directors may decide to evacuate to a specific area on campus. Instructions will be given through the P.A. system. If the situation has been controlled and does not require evacuation, students and teachers will be asked to go to the classroom of the first phase of external evacuation. In this case, all students must meet in their respective class (course/parallel) so that the teachers can call roll and inform the Directors of their section of any absences/situations.
In the Lockdown operative plan, students remain in their classroom. Students do not meet with younger siblings.