At the beginning of the year, we asked both students and staff, “What are your hopes?” Some answers were specific to the school year and personal while some hopes were more global. One theme that stood out was a desire for peace and safety. Our world can feel scary as the news competes for our attention 24 hours a day and world events appear to be an ever escalating compilation of catastrophes. As we adapt and evaluate our school’s disaster preparedness protocols, it is tricky to ask students to think about hypothetical disasters when very real ones are touching our own families all around us. And yet, it makes it all that much more important.
Today, we participated in the Great ShakeOut drill with over 18 million others nationwide. We began with an earthquake drill. Drop. Cover. Hold On. We then evacuated the building to the school yard. We reviewed the 4 rules of evacuation - Dont Talk. Don’t Run. Don’t Push. Don’t Turn Back. As each class returned to the classroom, they were given an envelope with scenarios for disasters. What would you do if your teacher was unconscious? What do you do in an aftershock? Where is the emergency water in your classroom? Teachers reported great conversations, questions and many, many “What ifs?” I had the pleasure of participating in 6th grade’s conversation and was impressed with their understanding of the need to remain calm in all scenarios. And, I am confident of one thing. They will take care of each other.
We drill monthly for earthquakes and fire. We will revisit our full school evacuation drill with parent pick up this spring. Members of the school board walk the facility twice a year to check for safety. We did that safety walk this Monday and as always, feel great about our facilities preparedness and found new considerations to continually improve. All of your kids have been tasked with a very important job tonight. They are to ask you about your at home preparedness. Do you have a plan? We continue to pray for the victims of disasters around the world. And commit to being ready to respond here at Corpus Christi.