Part of our mission to keep all of our stakeholders safe involves teaching best practices for responding to emergency situations. Over the past few years we have worked to strengthen these practices with our first responders throughout our area. Our school community has adopted and practiced the Standard Response Protocols by the ILoveUGuys Foundation. The standard response protocols are based on five actions that can be done to respond to all emergencies.

• HOLD - During a HOLD, students would stay in their classroom with the teacher and wait for an all-clear before moving to the next class. We might call a HOLD for a spill or other unsafe situation in the hallway.

• SECURE - We would call a SECURE if there was an unsafe event happening outside of the school. Exterior doors are all checked and students are not allowed to leave the building until it is safe.

• LOCKDOWN - A LOCKDOWN would be called if an extremely unsafe situation existed in the school. Students and staff would lockdown their classrooms until police could secure the building.

• EVACUATE - In the case of a fire, gas leak, or other any other situations that make inside the building unsafe, we would EVACUATE the building using plans that are posted in each classroom.

• SHELTER - If weather conditions are unsafe, we would call a SHELTER which would cause students to move to the safest locations within our building.

For more details, a parent handout is linked here. The handout is also available in Spanish and linked here.

As a matter of teaching and learning how to respond in an emergency, each year the last three actions are practiced with our first responder agencies in our Law Enforcement and Fire Drills. Under the School Safety Drill Act, a law enforcement drill must be observed within the first 90 days of school. Unit 5 anticipates that our local resolution of the act will be adopted at the September Board Meeting. Please see the attached document regarding information about our practices and your participation as stakeholders.

Exhibit 4.170-AP2, E5 Notice to Parents Guardians of Lockdown Drill Opt-out (09-21-22).pdf

We wanted to make you aware of a few safety drills that will be conducted in the upcoming weeks with our students and staff. For our lockdown drill scheduled on October 5th, there will be law enforcement from Normal Police Department to assist us. Part of the drill consists of going off site to our reunification location at Eastview Church. The drill will last more than an hour. Please note this in any planning you may have for appointments as students will not be accessible during this time. To ensure the success of our drill, we request the participation of all students, however, if you would like for your student to opt out of the drill, please send an email to Ms. Nicasio at nicasim@unit5.org no later than Friday, September 30th. Students opting out will be assigned to an alternative location outside weather permitting.

• September 20th - Fire drill
• October 5th - Lockdown Drill with NPD & Bus Evacuation
• October 12th - Fire Drill with NFD

Student IDs serve two extremely important purposes throughout the school year: bus attendance and lunch.

IDs on the bus

• Any time a student rides a bus (even for athletic events), students will be required to scan their IDs. This will allow "real time" access to data indicating student attendance on bus routes. This is extremely important in the case of an emergency.

IDs in the school lunch line

• Students should have their ID for lunch each day. Students who do not have an ID are asked to wait until the end of the line to get their meal.

Please help to ensure your student has a secure way to locate their ID - whether through a lanyard, wallet, card case, etc.

What if your student loses his or her student ID this year? We have the ability to print new IDs for students in-house. Students may come to the main office to request one.

Please note students will be provided one free replacement ID. Additional IDs will cost $3.00!

Click here for more information on how to order your CJHS 2022-2023 yearbook!!

This year, Chiddix will again partner with Midwest Food Bank and Eastview Church to offer some supplemental snacks over the weekend to qualifying students. BUT this year we are changing the format. Every other Thursday, students who have the need may come and select a few snack items that they will then bring home in their own backpack. If you are interested in having your child participate, please fill out this form or email Kelly at winterk@unit5.org

Our school is full of caring and engaging teachers but we honor that you are your child's first and most important teacher! What they learn from you will last a lifetime. Parenting makes a difference! YOU make a difference! Thank you for all you do!