PARENT EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
In order for emergency response plans to be effective, we must depend on the cooperation of many people, such as local police, emergency and fire departments. We also depend on the parents and our members to support our efforts. Your cooperation is vital to protecting the safety and welfare of all children, volunteers, and employees. Therefore, we ask parents to observe the following procedures during a crisis situation:
Please DO:
- Keep your contact information updated in our membership records. Contact our Front Desk to make any changes.
- Talk to your children. Emphasize how important is for them to follow instructions from staff and volunteers during an emergency.
- If you see something, say something, and encourage your children to do the same. Please report non-emergency information directly to SHH administration or SHH Front Desk.
Please DON’T:
- Do not come to SHH or evacuation location until you are instructed to do so by Sarah Heinz House. It may be necessary to keep the streets and parking lots clear for emergency vehicles.
- Do not telephone SHH. We understand and respect your concern, but it is essential that the telephone system be available for emergency communications.
- Do not post inaccurate or unverified information on social media. Posting inaccurate or unverified information may cause danger to our Heinz House community.
“SOGIE” GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES
Sarah Heinz House is committed to promoting a safe, positive and inclusive environment for all youth and teens — of every race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, ability, socio-economic status, and religion—in which they can thrive (from SHH Membership Handbook, Statement of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).
At Sarah Heinz House, our goal is for every child, teen, staff, volunteer, and visitor to feel welcome and safe, especially in our programs and facilities. One aspect of supporting this is through our SOGIE policy. “SOGIE” stands for “Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression”.
At Sarah Heinz House, we support and adopt the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) Gender Inclusive Handbook, its policies, and its principles. We use it as our primary guide for developing and updating our own SOGIE guidelines, policies, and procedures. The link to that PPS Gender Inclusive Handbook is available below on our Sarah Heinz House website for reference.
Since we are not a school setting, rare occasions may occur with unique nuances or details that we might handle slightly differently from PPS or a school environment, but their Handbook is our primary and most influential guide.
PPS_Gender_Inclusive_Handbook_Updated
If you have questions about Sarah Heinz House SOGIE Guidelines or Procedures, please contact the Program Staff member with whom you feel most comfortable, or contact Bob Bechtold, Director of Program Services.