RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Safety considerations have been added to the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) newly-released final guidance on cell phone-free education.
Part of VDOE’s 25-page policy directs public school districts to continue reviewing and enhancing their protocols for crisis situations in accordance with Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG), which is an evidence-based model for school districts to conduct threat assessments.
Some additional considerations VDOE has provided for parents are listed below:
- Schools must notify parents at the start of the school year about any updates to the annual crisis emergency plan and clearly outline the communications plan for parent notification should a school-based emergency or crisis occur, including any relevant or timely follow-up information regarding a school-based emergency event.
- Crisis plans should be revised to ensure that student use of cell phones is not a component
of an emergency plan. - Crisis plans should clearly outline the dangers of student cell phone use and should
incorporate that discussion is safety drills so that educators can remind students of the
importance of focusing on the adult and following their safety instructions. - School wide drills must be completed per the minimum criteria outlined in the Code of
Virginia (fire drills, tornado drills, lockdown drills). Schools should consider conducting
drills at a more frequent interval to ensure that all stakeholders are well-prepared for
emergencies.
VDOE is also directing school districts to designate a central office or administrative employee to be responsible for communicating with parents in emergency situations. These communications can be text messages, push alerts, automated phone calls, emails or posts on the school district’s website instead of direct communication.
The department has also directed school districts to make sure their contact information for parents stays up-to-date, as their phone numbers or email addresses may change over the course of the school year.
The department has suggested storing this information on a central database in the event that the school district employee assigned to communicate with parents isn’t available at the time of a crisis.
More information on school safety considerations can be found on page 11 of the department’s guidance:
