Emergency Preparedness

Required Drills

Per Oregon law (ORS 336.071), schools must complete the following drills annually:

Fire drills: every month that school is in session; the first drill must occur within the first 10 school days of the academic year.
Safety threat drills: minimum of two per year.
Earthquake drills: two drills per year.
Secure and lockdown drills: minimum of one secure and one lockdown drill per year. These drills may count toward the safety threat drill requirement.

Emergency Operations Plans

Each school in the district maintains a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), designed for a wide range of incidents from natural disasters like earthquakes and wildfires to human-caused emergencies such as intruder threats or hazardous material spills.

Our EOPs follow an all-hazards approach and are aligned with local, state and federal emergency management guidelines. These plans are reviewed and updated annually by school principals and safety committees to ensure that they reflect current best practices and community needs. Every school’s plan includes clearly defined roles and responsibilities, communication protocols, evacuation procedures, lockdown procedures and reunification strategies to reconnect students with their families safely.

What Families Need to Know & Do

Parents/guardians play a vital role in emergency preparedness. Here’s how you can help:

Stay informed: Familiarize yourself with your child’s school-specific emergency plan and know where to find updates during an incident.
Follow official channels: In the event of an emergency, rely only on district-approved communication on ParentSquare and the district website.
Avoid spreading rumors: Sharing unverified information, especially on social media, can cause confusion, panic and interfere with emergency response efforts. Please wait for official updates before posting or forwarding messages.
Understand reunification procedures: Know the process for picking up your child after an emergency. Bring proper identification and follow staff instructions to ensure a safe and orderly reunification.
Keep contact information updated: Make sure your emergency contact details are current with your school so you can be reached quickly if needed.

By working together, we can ensure a coordinated and effective response that protects our students and supports our community.

Earthquake Preparedness
Emergency Operations

Earthquake Preparedness

Graphic showing person dropping, crawling under a table and covering their head during an earthquake

What to do when the Earth shakes

DROP to your hands and knees. This position protects you from being knocked down and also allows you to stay low and crawl to shelter, if nearby.

COVER your head and neck with one arm and hand.

If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath it for shelter.
If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall (away from windows).
Stay on your knees; bend over to protect vital organs.

HOLD ON until shaking stops.

Under shelter: hold on to it with one hand; be ready to move with your shelter if it shifts.
No shelter: hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands.

School Preparedness

BSD recognizes that what we do now before an earthquake will determine what our lives will be like after a tremor. Although there's still much work to be done, the district has taken several steps to better prepare our schools for an earthquake.

Conduct at least two earthquake drills during the school year; one during the Great Oregon Shakeout and one drill on the school's schedule.
Provide two-way radios for communication during crisis situations.
Created a School Emergency Operations Plan template.
Supply all 2,600 classrooms in the district with 5-gallon emergency buckets. The buckets contain a thermal blanket, glow stick, hand sanitizer, emergency vest, whistle, face mask and first aid kit.
Supply all front offices with a 55-gallon yellow bin containing a hand-cranked weather radio, white reflective vests, solar charger, cowhide gloves, bullhorn with batteries and a whistle.

Student and Parent/Guardian Reunification

If damage is minor and infrastructure is mostly intact, bus and other transportation will proceed as normal. If damage is severe, buses will not run, and parents/guardians will be required to pick up their students at school. Schools will use a controlled release process to reunify students with their parents/guardians.

A controlled release is not a typical end-of-school-day dismissal. Parents/guardians will be required to have identification readily available to pick up their students. Parents/guardians can expect the reunification process to take several hours. Parents/guardians should keep in mind that reunification is a process that protects both the safety of students and provides for an accountable transfer of custody from the school to a recognized custodial parent or guardian. Individuals listed with the school under a student's "Additional and Emergency Contacts" who have been granted permission to pick up the student are permitted to pick up the student during a controlled release, as long as identification is shown. Details will be communicated to parents/guardians via ParentSquare.

District Communication

Getting Prepared at Home

Graphic showing what do do when an earthquake happens

Make an Emergency Plan

All Oregonians should make their emergency plan today. Have a meaningful conversation with family and friends about what you'll do during an emergency. Develop a plan for how you'll contact each other, where you'll meet and what you'll do in different situations. To get started, visit FEMA's w ebsite for step-by-step instructions.

Build A Kit

A disaster can happen anywhere you live or work. Once it happens, it may take days or even weeks for responders to reach your family. You may have to go without food, water or electricity. Build an emergency kit with two-week's worth of food, water and other necessary supplies for your home. Build a smaller kit for you car, work and even your child's backpack. Include items such as a water bottle, snack, flashlight, whistle, emergency blanket, wipes, hand sanitizer and a family picture. Think about the items that would make you feel more comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. The American Red Cross is a good source for a list of emergency kit items.

Be Two-Weeks-Ready

For many years, emergency management officials have talked about the importance of being prepared for 72 hours, but recent disasters have shown us that it may take days or even weeks for first responders and resource support to reach disaster-affected communities. While 72 hours is a good place to start, the goal should now be two-weeks-ready. For more information, please visit the 2-Weeks-Ready webpage or the Oregon Office of Emergency Management YouTube channel.

Getting Started

Being prepared for disasters and emergencies can seem like a big job. Many people don't know where to start, so they never start at all. The Do 1 Thing organization can help you take small steps that make a big difference in an emergency.

Resources

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BSD Emergency Operations Plan

The Beaverton School District Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is an all-hazards plan that describes how the district will organize and respond to emergencies and disasters. The EOP provides guidelines for preventing, protecting, mitigating, responding to and recovering from emergencies or disasters. The EOP outlines emergency management organization and assigns responsibilities for emergency-response functions. The plan is compliant with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and is compatible with the EOPs for the City of Beaverton and Washington County, as well as the U.S. Department of Education's Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.

It's the goal of the district that responses to emergencies or disaster conditions are conducted in the most organized, efficient and effective manner possible in coordination with emergency responders and community partners.

Having a district EOP provides benefits to the district as a whole, individual schools and the community by:

Presenting opportunities to engage the whole community — students, parents/guardians, staff, emergency responders and community members.
Providing a framework for the School EOP.
Clarifying roles and responsibilities.
Improving response to an emergency situation to prevent injuries, save lives and allow for a more rapid return to normal school operations.
Providing a comprehensive understanding of the hazards that the district faces.

The superintendent has reviewed and approved the EOP. The Public Safety Department maintains the EOP and coordinates associated preparedness activities.

School Emergency Operations Plan

BSD has developed a School Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) template for all schools in the district to complete and utilize. This School EOP is an all-hazards plan that describes how schools will organize and respond to emergencies and disasters. It's compatible with the EOPs for Beaverton School District, City of Beaverton and Washington County, as well as the U.S. Department of Education’s Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.

The School EOP outlines the approach to emergency preparedness and response at the school level and is intended to enhance the school’s ability to protect the safety, health and welfare of staff and students. The School EOP designates roles and responsibilities of key personnel. Coordination, cooperation and understanding of the participatory roles outlined in the EOP are key to responding to emergencies or disaster conditions in the most organized, efficient and effective manner possible.

The School EOP is maintained by the school's principal and the school safety committee and is updated annually.

Beaverton Schools

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