Virginia Beach City Public Schools is committed to providing a safe environment for students, staff and visitors. The school division conducts annual safe school audits of all school facilities in accordance with Virginia State Code. The audit process provides a comprehensive overview of the school division’s security and emergency preparedness.

The Office of Safe Schools and Risk Management works closely with national, state, and local safety officials -- police, fire, emergency medical services, and public health -- in order to ensure our schools are well prepared for an emergency. These relationships have resulted in the development of a comprehensive Emergency Response Plan that covers a wide variety of emergencies and serves as a guide to help staff and our public safety partners respond swiftly should a crisis occur in our schools.

During an emergency, it is critical that parents receive important information and directions from school officials before going to the school or scene of an emergency. You can be confident that accurate and timely information will be released to parents, the public, and the media during any school emergency. Should a school be evacuated, each school has a procedure for helping parents locate their child. Parents will be directed to a specific location where they will be required to show proper identification. Remember, a student can only be released to an adult that is documented as an emergency contact. A non-custodial parent must be listed with his/her child’s emergency contact information as a guardian and show proper identification.

Should a school emergency occur, a parent can get important information and directions by doing one or all of the following:

• Call the VBCPS Emergency Hotline at 757.263.1000;
• Check e-mail if the parent is a vbschools x-tra subscriber to Closings, Cancellations, and Emergencies;
• Visit the home page of vbschools.com; and/or
• Tune into the local television and radio stations for news alerts.

Should an emergency situation occur at a school, it is important that parents are familiar with these terms.

Internal lockdown: all school interior doors are locked and students are confined to their classrooms. No entry or exit of the school is allowed. This takes place if there is a threat or possible threat inside the school. During an internal lockdown, the school’s main entrance doors will be locked and a sign will be posted on the front door indicating that the school is in an internal lockdown. If there is no admittance to the building, parents/caregivers will be referred to the VBCPS Emergency Hotline at 757.263.1000 for information regarding this incident.

External lockdown: all school exterior doors are locked. This takes place if the threat is outside of the school. If the situation allows, parents/caregivers could be admitted into the school with proper identification. If it is deemed safe for parents/caregivers to enter the building, they will need to show a proper form of identification such as a driver’s license, military I.D., VBCPS school I.D. or other valid photo identification.

Shelter-in-place: means selecting small, interior rooms in the school, with no or few windows, and taking refuge there until it is safe to release students. This is a precaution aimed to keep students safe from hazardous materials that may have been released into the atmosphere. (This is not the same thing as going to a shelter in case of a storm.) This procedure is implemented if it is determined that evacuation or dismissal could possibly place students at risk.

Ensuring school safety is everyone’s responsibility – staff, students, parents, and the entire community. Please report any safety concerns you have to the school principal. Additional school safety information can be found on www.vbschools.com.