San Juan Island School District has developed an emergency response plan to ensure your child's safety while in school or on a school bus. This plan outlines specific responses that schools will take in the event of an emergency situation such as an evacuation or a lock-down.

Staff members have assigned roles and duties that are detailed in the plan. The district has conducted drills for responding to a number of potential emergencies in conjunction with the San Juan County Police Department, San Juan Island Fire Department and San Juan EMT.

If an emergency occurs during school hours, classroom teachers will provide students with appropriate instructions. Additionally, school officials may provide students with instructions or information about the emergency through the school public address system.

Each month, students practice for emergency situations such as fire, earthquake or intruder and are very familiar with school emergency responses.

If an emergency occurs during school hours please do not come to the school in order to enable first responders have free and clear access to the campus. In rushing to the school, you may put yourself in danger and become a part of the problem.

Instead, we ask you to be patient and follow updates that will be posted on the district website, emailed to our contact list and through text alerts via ParentLink. 

For more information about ParentLink, please visit this webpage.

A lockdown is initiated to isolate students and staff from immediate dangers which may include violent behaviors, suspicious trespassers, other dangers, or nearby police activity. In a lockdown,

• Exterior and interior doors are locked.
• Students are told to stay away from windows and to keep low.
• Curtains or blinds are closed. Lights are off.
• Only quiet talking is allowed.
• Students who are outside at recess or in a PE class enter back into the building.
• No one is allowed into or out of the building until the lock down has been lifted.
• Staff has been trained to take the situation very seriously, with an assumption that an intruder could actually be in the building.
• Parents & guardians are asked to not come to school.

A lockout is called when there is a threat or hazard OUTSIDE of the school building. Whether it’s due to violence or criminal activity in the immediate neighborhood, or a dangerous animal on the playground. Lockout uses the security of the physical facility to act as protection. Contact the main office to report any perceived danger Administrators or law enforcement will make the decision to move to a lock down if needed.

If school or public safety officials require that a school building be evacuated during an emergency situation, students will be transported to a reunion site.

At the reunion site, students will be released to their parents or others authorized to pick them up upon presentation of proper identification.

Parents will be informed of the reunion site situation through the school email, district website and text alert system via Parentlink.

Children will be released to individuals who are authorized on the student's emergency care card or have prior written parent authorization. Schools will also require photo identification when the child is released at the parent-child reunion site.

Parents and guardians are responsible for the accuracy of the information on their child’s emergency care card. If parents have not completed a card, they need to do so. If their information has changed, parents need to update the information.

We ask that commuter families arrange for their student(s) to have a designated San Juan Island contact that is authorized to pick up their child. The name and contact information for this individual needs to be in your child’s file. Please make sure this contact is current and aware of their role in the event of a school emergency.

School bus drivers are in constant radio communication with our Transportation Department. In the event that an emergency occurs while students are in transport, drivers will be notified to respond appropriately. Buses will be rerouted or may delay arrival or departure to avoid traveling toward the emergency situation such as a school lockdown. When traffic and safety conditions allow, buses may be rerouted to a parent-child reunion site (as described above).

Each month, students and staff practice “Drop, Cover and Hold” as a response to earthquake.

What Does It Mean?

• Drop – under something sturdy and taller than you are
• Cover – the back of your head and neck with one arm
• Hold on – in case the thing you’re under moves
• Close your eyes – protect your eyes

In the event of an earthquake or situation that makes it unsafe to be inside of a school building, students will be moved outside to a predetermined “safe” area.

• Friday Harbor Elementary School: 
• Friday Harbor Middle School: 
• Friday Harbor High School: 
• Griffin Bay School: 

For more information about emergency and earthquake preparedness, visit these Web sites:

• FEMA Earthquake Preparedness
• Red Cross Earthquake Preparedness Information
• King County Emergency Management

An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus emerges for which there is little or no immunity in the human population, begins to cause serious illness and then spreads easily person-to-person worldwide. Part of preparedness is maintaining overall good health and using basic prevention measures such as covering your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze and washing your hands often.

In the event of a pandemic flu event the District will comply with instructions issued by the San Juan County Health Department.