We know you are concerned with safety. We are too. The traditional fire and earthquake drills that we all practiced in our school days look very similar and have a proven track record of effectiveness. We drill monthly for these and have a high level of confidence about our staff’s ability to safely guide your kids through these possibilities. After training with a school disaster specialist, we began to adapt the drills to be more challenging and elevate our level of preparedness.
For fire drills, we have blocked exits necessitating quick decision making and adapting to what could very well be an unforeseen obstacle. The kids are quick on their feet and so well trained that we have yet to trip them up with this tactic. We have an earthquake drill that includes scenarios for each classroom. Maybe your door is jammed and you can’t leave the room. Maybe your teacher fell and is unconscious. In these scenario drills, we are always impressed with the follow up discussions. Our students ask good questions and are left with the directive to go home and make a family plan for disasters.
Some of the dangers faced by schools today were unfathomable in the past. We can’t ignore the active shooter trend that is terrorizing our schools. Discussing this topic is challenging as adults, let alone with children. We encourage you to have these talks with your student. They are aware of this danger. The National Education Association provides some suggestions for these difficult discussions. We are actively studying directives from the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA who, unfortunately, have enough data now to be making recommendations for best practices. Please be confident that we, as a school community, take this very seriously and it is our intention to be as well prepared as we can be for the unthinkable. Of course we hope it is all for nothing. But, hope is not a strategy. Preparedness is.
In that regard, we would like to thank our parent community for participating in our Emergency Evacuation drill on Wednesday. We are impressed with your patience and understanding as we train ourselves to be prepared to dismiss our students safely and securely. I heard a few parents commenting that in a real emergency, they would simply storm in and take their child. As a parent, I get that to my core. However, we know that you understand, with over 200 parents feeling that very same way, there is no way we could allow that and expect any level of safety and responsibility for your children. And they are our main concern. So, for your trouble, we are grateful. And we hope you understand that for the safety of your kids, we will keep training, keep drilling and keep focused on preparedness.