Emergency Planning Note for ICS Parents

The ICS community is happy to be here to share and enjoy the 2010 Ethiopian elections taking place on Sunday 23 May. However, we recognize that we should always have thoughtful security plans in place for any unusual event that might occur, regardless of the reason.

If it is Safe in Our Neighborhood, We Will be Open for School
However, all parents and employees are asked to make their own judgments about the safety of their own neighborhoods or routes to school in the coming weeks. Students and employees will not be penalized for making the judgment to stay at home and not come to school or to work. We cannot make the judgment for you, we can only tell you if we are open or not.

Keeping Students Safe on Campus
During the coming days and weeks, we will keep students safe on campus by carefully monitoring our neighborhood with our own foot patrols, with our local police contacts, and by staying in touch with the US Embassy’s roving patrols. We will not release students to walk home if we have doubts about our neighborhood safety. Students will be kept in our “safe haven” or in their teacher/advisor’s classroom until they can be picked up.
In an emergency situation, household help must have a valid school ID to gain access to the campus. Please remember this if you want a driver, maid or gardener to pick up your children if you cannot come to school for any reason. We will also require a parent contact if you want us to release your child to go home with another family. If you cannot leave work or home for some reason, you may call your child’s teacher or our primary school numbers (given below). An administrator will also be at the main gate in an emergency situation, to assist parents and drivers getting students home safely.

Gate Pass Required for Early Dismissal
All students must have a gate pass to leave the campus before our dismissal time. You can get a gate pass at our reception desk, or from your child’s teacher/advisor if you come early to pick up your child. We Will Begin a Practice Phone Tree “Call Down” TODAY Teachers will be calling all families to make sure that our system is working, and that we have accurate contact information for parents. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

Communication Protocol
If we need to reach all ICS families quickly, SMS and email messages will be our first avenues for contact. All of our ICS families have at least one mobile phone. If the SMS network is functioning and the Internet is up, we will use both systems to get the word out quickly to all families. Check our web site daily! If SMS is not available, then we will initiate a phone call down.

Keep ICS Informed
Parents, as always, if you hear about or witness a security situation or event that we need to know about, please inform us as well as the appropriate authorities. You can call our reception desk during school hours, or you can call one of the school Principals.

Student Mobile Phones
Parents are reminded that ICS students are only allowed to use their mobile phones before school, during their lunchtime, and after school. Please call our offices if you want to send a message to your child during class time.

Handy Phone Numbers
Please keep these numbers handy in the coming days and weeks,
• The mobile number for your child’s class teacher or advisor
• 011-371-1544 — the school’s primary landline
• 0911-333-650 — the school’s emergency mobile number
• 011-371-8103 — direct line to our security shift commander’s office
• 0911-333-651 — mobile number for our security shift commander
• www.icsaddis.edu.et — bookmark our web site today if you haven’t already!

Thank you,
The ICS Administration