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At the School District of Onalaska, the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community are our highest priorities. We are committed to providing a secure and nurturing environment where every student can thrive. To achieve this, we continuously evaluate and enhance our safety protocols, invest in updated security measures, and collaborate with various partners such as first responders, La Crosse County Emergency Management, the Department of Justice Office of School Safety, and other local school districts.
The School District of Onalaska has adopted The "I Love U Guys" Foundation's Standard Response Protocol (SRP). Students and staff will be training, practicing, and drilling the protocol.
*Click on the image for a printable/downloadable version
The Standard Response Protocol (SRP) is based on an all-hazards approach as opposed to individual scenarios. Like the Incident Command System (ICS), SRP utilizes clear common language while allowing for flexibility in protocol.
The premise is simple - there are five specific actions that can be performed during an incident. When communicating these, the action is labeled with a "Term of Art" and is then followed by a "Directive." Execution of the action is performed by active participants, including students, staff, teachers and first responders. The SRP is based on the following actions: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, and Shelter.
Circumstances may occur at the school that require parents to pick up their students in a formalized, controlled release. This process is called Reunification and may be necessary due to weather, a power outage, hazmat or if a crisis occurs at the school. The Standard Reunification Method is a protocol that makes the process more predictable and less chaotic for all involved.
Because reunification is not a typical end of school day event, a reunification may occur at a different location other than the school a student attends.
For more information on the Standard Reunification Method, see the attachment under the "Additional Resources" section.
More general information on these protocols and methods, including educational materials and videos, can be found on the "I Love U Guys" Foundation's website.
Our area is no stranger to inclement weather. Because of this, it is important for you to understand the district's process for managing these situations, including the decision to close or delay school.
Our monitoring includes frequent communication from the National Weather Service as well as early morning weather surveillance. Any closing or two-hour delay start decision will be made before 5:45 a.m. Early release decisions will be made by 11:00 a.m. If we can determine at an earlier time that school closing is necessary, the district will let you know as soon as a decision is made. We attempt to delay decision making until the morning of the predicted weather event as weather is inherently unpredictable and we want to avoid the need to make up instructional minutes lost unnecessarily. With this in mind, please create a closing or delay plan for your children now so that it can be executed with short notice.
Any closing or two-hour delay will be posted on our district website, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as through local media outlets including WKBT-News 8, WXOW-News 19, WLAX Fox 25/48, La Crosse Tribune, and COW97. A BrightArrow message will also be sent to families. Please check PowerSchool to ensure your contact information is up-to-date to receive important BrightArrow communications such as these. To do this, you will need to login to PowerSchool on a desktop and click the “BrightArrow Messages” tab under “Navigation.” If you need additional help checking or changing these settings, please contact your school.
If the district holds school and a family does not feel comfortable sending their child, parents and guardians may contact the school’s attendance office to inform them of the absence.
Speak Up, Speak Out is an anonymous reporting tool that students can use to report incidents of cyberbullying, violence, drugs or weapons possession or other areas of school safety that a student might be concerned about. This certainly doesn't replace the traditional approach of a student sharing these types of concerns with a trusted adult at home or school; however, it does provide another option.
Students should be aware that if a report is made outside of school hours, there will not be an immediate response at that time. School personnel will follow up with students and investigate during the next school day. Likewise, immediate concerns during the school day should be reported directly to a school administrator or counselor to ensure the fastest response. The tool simply provides another venue for students to have voice.
Click here to submit a confidential report. You may also make a report using your smartphone by downloading the Speak Up, Speak Out app from the Apple Store or Google Play, by calling 1-800-MY-SUSO-1 to speak to a live, trained SUSO Analyst, or by texting “SUSO” to 738477 to receive a link to the anonymous tip form.
