Keeping You Informed

DURING ANY EMERGENCY, OUR FIRST PRIORITY is to protect students and staff. Next, we will do everything in our power to keep you informed. Specific procedures must be followed prior to releasing information. Communication will be released once it safe and we are able. 

Emergency Communication Channels

We will use the following communication tools to communicate with you when we are able.

• In an emergency, we will use SchoolMessenger using communication classified as “emergency” to contact all phone numbers and email addresses families have provided.
  If you have opted-in for text messaging, we will also contact you using that method.
  It is important to note: after an emergency is resolved, further notifications will be classified as “general”. Therefore, if you have not selected a contact method for general notifications, you will not receive those updates.
• Division Website Alerts- www.blackgold.ca
• Community Hotline – 780.979.0980

During an emergency, the Division may use social media, although not as a primary method, as a means to get communication out to families and to reach a larger audience. Other times, rather than intensify a situation, the Division or school will use a more traditional means to communicate directly with the families impacted. This may include email, text or phone messaging as social media cannot replace all communication.

• Facebook – @BlackGoldRegionalDivision
• Twitter – @BGRD18

PLEASE rely on the Division and our schools for accurate, dependable, firsthand details and updates. We are the credible source.

Sharing Information

In the event of an emergency situation, families are asked to share only official information provided by the Division or school and shared in official Division or school messages such as email, web alerts, news releases, etc. This information originates with the Emergency Operations Centre and is to be considered official public information.

Information from unofficial or unverified sources should not be shared. Sharing official information helps keep everyone safe.

Communicating During an Emergency

When an emergency occurs, please do not come to the school to pick up your child unless requested to do so. Doing so could impede the response to the situation and also interfere with emergency crews’ and school personnel’s efforts to deal with the emergency. Extra vehicles and people at the site make the task
more difficult. Please follow the instructions provided to you through the communications channels outlined below.

If you arrive at the school in the midst of an emergency, please respect the protocol in progress. While we understand personal circumstances or initial reactions might move you to do something contrary to the school’s established procedures, we cannot compromise the safety of students or staff to accommodate individual requests that could put anyone at risk.

Do not call the school.  Do not call your child’s cell phone.

• Phone systems need to remain available for handling the actual emergency.
• Overloading the system may mean the school cannot communicate with first responders.
• Calling your child’s cell phone during an emergency may be putting them at higher risk by disclosing their location or drawing attention to them during a lock-down.