I made a new post on another page, but I think it is better served here. Our school district does the fan out list for "chosen" room parents to have. In the case of emergencies the room parents call all of the people on their list who chose to be included. Problem is we have been in school for a month and they haven't finished they list.
My son's middle school has TWO bomb threats last week, the first one the kids were held outside the building for an hour while eight police cars searched the building. None of the parents knew anything until school was out and the kids told us. The second happened during the school day and the kids were removed from the building for an hour and 15 minutes and walked to the rec center.
My biggest concern at this point is their "evacuation" plan...Everyone knows that the middle school kids go to the rec center and the elementary kids go to the senior center...they make it so public that the kids are not any safer at the other buildings than they are at school. It is so frustrating, they superintendant is so confrontational that when questioned you never get a straight answer only a bunch of nasty attitude. Just venting.......
We were not allowed to be given any info on the students last year, not even a list of who's in the class. It made it IMPOSSIBLE for room parents to function without involving the teacher in every request. We now ask the parents to provide us their phone numbers, but still not everyone does. So, we end up calling a limited number over and over again, and wonder why everyone is not involved. This year, we are publishing a Directory of only students whose parents who gave us permission. Being a county-wide school of choice, it is not easy to get to know the other parents or for kids to follow up with play dates.
I, too, am concerned about the safety issue. Has anyone heard of problems from the Directory, or kids names being published in the newsletter or newspaper?
What do y'all think about listing the child's first name and last initial, or first initial and last name? I know I use my directory constantly, but usually to find the parent. As long as there's a phone # or email, an address, although helpful, is not necessary.
Please note this no-disclosure plan is in place only in the case of terrorism, and NOT if the building needs to be evacuated because of fire, flooding, gas, etc. In those cases, parents know where the kids are because of the information they received at the beginning of the school year. We did bring up the case of worried parents showing up at school not knowing where there kids were. Calling trees are activated by the staff from the location site and law enforcement will be stationed at the school to inform parents where they may find their children.
God help us if terrorism ever strikes our community. But the key issue is the safety of the kids. As happened on September 11, 2001, we know parents will come to the school and they will be allowed to have their children released to them. But as you stated, twinpto mom, if you are 30 miles away from your children, wouldn't you be glad your children's safety was the first priority of the school and law enforcement community??
Please, everybody go over what to do in these types of cases with your kids. Prepare them. I know it is scary to the kids and to parents as well. But unfortunately it is imperative to insure their safety. Think of how scared they will be if they don't know what to do if something should happen at school. We all talk about stranger danger, and go over fire safety drills at home. These are scary issues as well and we stress them to our kids a million times over. Unfortunately, I think we need to add terrorism to the list. We love our kids, let's keep them well informed and safe.
Have never heard about a terrorism response plan in so much depth. My first reaction as a parent is that I want to know where my kids are at all times -- especially in times of trouble. I think I'd have a problem with that plan.
100% agreement with the terrorist response plan... it's excellent. agree with the morning weather (though it seems we have too many parents who don't even do a decent job of looking out the window in the morning).
I am concerned with how the middle of the day situation is handled. we too have "relocation" sites that can be used... but how are parents notified. as a parent who works +30 miles away from where my kids go to school... if i showed up at school at the end of the day to pick them up and found out the school had been evacuated 4 or 5 hours earlier... i think i'd be a tad freaked.
all the personal information isn't given our school community-wide... only our room parent responsible for emergency notification. there is a student directory... and all families are given multiple opportunities to withhold address/phone numbers prior to publication.
gosh... i was hoping my kids wouldn't be growing up in fear... like i did in the heighth of the cold war. challenging times we live in, huh.
