Contingency Plan

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:

 

Internal evacuation to safety zones
External evacuation with family
Lockdown

Internal Evacuation

Operating Plan for Internal Evacuation: Exit to security zones

It is executed in case of earthquake, fire or any emergency that requires evacuation to safety zones.

In case of immediate evacuation alert to security zones, the students and staff must obey the order and exit immediately to safety zones.
Before
  • Maintain the correct placement of tables and chairs within the classroom
  • Know the evacuation routes and security zones of the school
  • Keep a list of all your students. These lists must remain close to the door and must be taken to the safety area in case of evacuation
  • Work with semi-open or open doors (classrooms, offices, library, etc.)
During
  • In case of immediate evacuation message to security zones (earthquake sensor connected to the p.a. system), students and staff must obey the order and exit immediately to safety zones.
  • If earthquake happens when students are within the classroom or closed places, use the words “emergency” and “exit”.
1. Emergency

 

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

2. Exit

 

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.

Remember:

 

  • Students and teachers should walk in line quietly and protect their head and neck with their arms until they reach the safety zone.
  • Teachers should carry a list of their students.
  • When you reach the safety zone keep the group together (form circles with your students), and report any absence to the Coordinator of your section.
  • Follow the instructions of the Directors.
  • With primary students engage them with games while waiting in the security zone.
After
  • At the sound of the siren or verbal order of the Directors, students and teachers should return to their classrooms, in silence and following same route used for evacuation.
  • In case recess time coincides with returning to class, students should return to the classroom first for roll call, then go out to recess.
General Instructions:

 

 

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.

External Evacuation

Operative plan for external evacuation
Meeting of students by family in the classroom of the younger brother to be withdrawn by his parents, legal representative or authorized person.

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.

 

 

Teachers responsible for classroom
Before
  • Make the lists for each class, with incoming siblings and students leaving the classroom, telephones and addresses.
  • Keep a list of students with respiratory or allergy problems.
  • Plan recreational activities for the duration of the evacuation.
  • Know the general evacuation plan.
During

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.

After
  • All staff meet once all their students have been withdrawn from the Institution.
  • Evacuate the School in the order determined by the authorities.
  • After evacuating from the School, wait for instructions from the Ministry of Education about attending classes.
  • The School will make contact with the staff through its respective chain of communication.
Instructions for parents, legal representatives or authorized persons.

 

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:

 

  •  Inside parents’ parking lot
  •  Outside parking lot, diagonal to SUM
  •  Stadium

 

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:

 

  • Main gate (pedestrian exit)
  • Pedestrian exit door from the campus to the bus parking lot
  • Gate at parents’ parking lot
  • Pedestrian exit door from SUMCITO
  • Stadium (Pedestrian and vehicular)

 

 

Instructions for visitors

 

All visitors must evacuate the school immediately.

External Evacuation Routes

Emergency

 

An emergency is any situation that endangers the safety of students, teachers and staff. These events may be actual or imminent.

 

 

What to do in an emergency?

 

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:

 

  • Parents’ parking lot next to the Nursery (Manuel Benigno Cueva Street and N80A)
  • Corner parking lot diagonal to SUM (Agustín Cueva and Ramón de la Barrera)
  • Stadium parking lot (if the emergency calls for it – enter using Manuel Benigno Cueva street)

 

5.  When you arrive to these areas, there will be staff from the School to assist you.

 

 

Remember

 

  • Your children will be accompanied and supervised by the classroom teacher.
  • If you have children in different grades, they will always be sent to the classroom of the younger sibling.
  • Only Nursery students will remain in their classroom within the Nursery building. In this case, they do not meet with their older siblings.
  • School staff will be available to tell you the exact location of your children.

 

 

Very Important

 

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 Nursery Map

.: Download Primary National Map

.: Download Primary International Map

.: Download Secondary National and International Map

Lockdown / Bloqueo

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:

 

  • Lock your classroom door. If you do not have a key, place a heavy chair or other piece of furniture against the door. However, keep in mind that if you have to evacuate from the classroom you should be able to remove the barricades you put against the door.
  • Close all windows, close curtains, lower blinds. Do not leave open spaces in curtains or blinds.
  • If at Lockdown you are not a lockable location, enter the classroom/office closest to where you are. If there are students in the hallway, have them enter your classroom.
  • Turn off all classroom or office lights. Put your cell phone in vibrate or silent mode.
  • If your door has a window, cover it so that you cannot see inside from the corridor.
  • Where possible, hide in bathrooms, under a desk, behind walls, columns, furniture or other places where you cannot be seen from the door.
  • If you are in the bathroom, lock yourself in a stall with a door, and stand on the toilet bowl so your shoes will not be visible. Remain silent.
  • Do not talk or move. Try not to laugh, cough or sneeze. Keep as quiet as possible.
  • All must remain on alert until school authorities inform through the P.A. system that the emergency and/or drill is over. Doors should remain closed until danger has passed.
  • Follow the instructions of the Directors. Do not trust strangers.

 

All persons who are outdoors should direct students to the following areas:

 

  • Those in the stadium should enter the locker rooms under the bleachers and lock the doors.
  • Those inside the SUM must enter the locker rooms or sports offices.
  • Those around SUMCITO, on soccer fields or play areas, must enter the SUMCITO and close doors.
  • Especially in Nursery, Preschool, and Primary, staff in each grade level should quickly check that there are no children in the restrooms before locking in their classroom. In this case, the child in the bathroom should be taken to the nearest classroom.
  • Librarians should close windows, curtains and doors, and place students and people in the Library between the book shelves.
  • Cafeteria will block doors, kitchen and dining rooms. Those who are inside the cafeteria should go to the Teachers’ Club and lock up.
  • Those on the terrace of the Teachers’ Club must enter, close doors, windows, curtains.
  • Those who are in the Assembly, must enter the nearest office or Medical Department, except the Director General office.
  • Those who need to enter a classroom or office that has already blocked their door, should knock the door and announce their name aloud to get the door open, if they are identified as a member of the School.
  • Those who are in the Printing room, must close the doors and stay inside.
  • Those who are in the Comité de Empresa, must close the doors and stay inside.

 

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.