EMERGENCY ACTION PLANNING > Blog > Children > School or Day Care Emergency Plans
School or Day Care Emergency Plans
Today we are going to look at one thing and one thing only.
Pull out your emergency preparedness checklist, go to the front page, or page One.
In the left-hand column about two-thirds of the way down under the heading of ”Also,” you’ll find one item.
“Learn about emergency plans for your children’s school or daycare center.”
With the COVID 19 going on many communities are still trying to figure out what they’re going to do with the upcoming 2020 – 2021 school year.
Some County school officials say their children will be going back to the buildings to attend class some Counties say they won’t.
Regardless of what side of the coin your community is on this is a good opportunity for you to discover what the County school officials have in play to protect your children in case of an emergency.
To help you out. Download and print this script: PARENT EMERGENCY EVACUATION INFORMATION
Download and print the form before continuing.
The intent of this form is to identify what the school or the daycare facility will do if they need to evacuate your child from the property.
You do remember that one of three things will happen during a disaster or emergency.
Number one: you will stay in place until the emergency is over.
Number two: you will evacuate because staying in places might get you killed.
Number three: you will stay in place until it is determined that you need to leave because your safety is in jeopardy.
The parent emergency evacuation information form has four paragraphs.
On the top is the name of the facility or the school address contact information and phone numbers.
If you have children in multiple schools of facilities, create a page for each one of them.
The first paragraph identified as number one is where your children will go if they need to leave the facility on foot.
Item number two identifies where the children will be transported by vehicle if necessary.
Item number three identifies the hospital or health care facility your child will be transported to if need be.
And the last paragraph identifies where your children will be transported to by vehicle if there is a major environmental non-confined emergency.
Based on my past experience with multiple school boards you can get three different answers.
Number one: they will look at you like you have horns growing out of your head and they have no idea what you are talking about.
Number two: they will tell you that this is propriety information and you are not authorized to have this information.
Number three: they will give you the information you’re asking for.
If you get answer number one, ask who you can speak to to get the information if it is available. Get that person’s name and phone number and call them directly yourself.
Do not rely on whoever you’re speaking to, to pass your information on, it may not happen.
If you get answer number two where they tell you that this is propriety information you are not authorized to have it.
Remind them that you are the parent, and you are authorized to have this information.
The best answer I got from a school official who refused to give me this information was, they do not want this information falling into the hands of terrorists who could use it to harm your children.
I thanked this person for their consideration, reminded them that I am a career US Army soldier with a higher security clearance than them, and asked who did I need to speak to, to get the information I’m looking for.
If the individual you are speaking with still refuses to give you the information you may need to escalate this personally by going to the school board. Eventually, you will get the information.
If you get answer number three, thank the person that gave you the information and ask them how often this information is updated, when any changes are made, and how you can get that information.
If your children are physically going back to school, you will know what the school board has planned for if evacuation is needed.
If your children are not physically going back to school yet, you will have this information for future reference.
Worst case scenario
If your County school board cannot answer these questions because they’ve never thought about evacuating the children.
Something should be done to correct it.
Keep in mind that it’s entirely acceptable to go off-script.
This worksheet and practical exercise are intended to identify and educate you on what would happen to evacuate your children from the school or property or the daycare facility.
Not all-inclusive
It does not cover everything.
Feel free to ask the school board or officials to outline all necessary emergency procedures that they have in place to protect your children.
This should be a public document and you should have access to it.
Till next time
“Be Safe”
P.S. What do you want to know?
Email me at info@eapworkshop.com