DISASTER- When The School Holds Your Child HOSTAGE

We all have emergency plans (at least we should).  Some of us have contingency plans for contingency plans.  In the event of a disaster we know what to do, how to do it, and when to implement it.  But there is one nagging issue I’ve struggled with over the years.  What happens if you have school aged children and said event happens during school hours?

In today’s litigious society schools have adopted a lock down policy in the event of most emergencies, nobody in, nobody out.  We’ve seen it happen over and over again, our children’s school has even locked down a few times over the years.  For the most part it is as sound a plan as any.  In this plan the children can be accounted for and this removes the need for unnecessary resources allocated to accessing the situation.  But what happens if a real disaster occurs, a disaster that requires you to get out now?

Anyone with children has probably dropped them off at school, even if they walk or take the bus.  You wait in line to drop them off at the front door.  In this manner hundreds or even thousands of children enter the building each morning in an orderly fashion.  The same is true when picking them up from school.  Now, imagine this event in a panicked environment, hundreds or thousands of parents racing to get their children.  Look at some of the recent school crises; notice the hundreds of cars and confused/worried parents.  They are unable to reunite with their children until the danger has passed and the task of accounting for all of the children has been accomplished.  Most of these scenarios have been triggered by individuals or small groups of people who can be somewhat quickly contained.  What happens when a much larger crisis occurs and the school administration decides the best policy is lock down and your plan is to leave town?

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