USD327 is planning a district wide student/parent re-unification drill on the afternoon of Friday, October 25th. As one of the final steps of any crisis situation, “re-unifying” students with their parents/guardians is very important. It is a process that needs to be handled carefully and correctly to account for all students/parents. This process must be practiced and reviewed to insure that we all can do the best we can in a difficult situation. We do that by preparing for and participating in a controlled setting like this drill.
Each of the district schools have been practicing drills covering different crisis situations; all in effort to be prepared and provide a safe environment for our students. In addition, 327 Staff members review, collaborate, and participate in training sessions on various scenarios of school safety. This learned information is then applied during the re-unification drill.
District students and staff will practice a building evacuation to initiate the re-unification drill. Parents/guardians who wish to participate and learn how this process works may do so. Remember the purpose of a re-unification drill is to re-unify students with their parents/guardians after evacuating the school.
Below are important items for you to be aware of if you choose to participate:
- It is voluntary for you as a parent/guardian.
- The drill will start for students and staff on October 25th, at approximately 2:00 PM for EES and EJSH and at approximately 2:30 PM for KMS.
- Parents/guardians will be informed of the drill’s progress through the USD327 app, Facebook, and the Live Feed on the district website.
- Notifications will be pushed out to the USD327 app.
- Download the app by searching “USD327” in your App Store or Play Store on your device.
- These notifications will be used to provide necessary information on where and when students can be picked up and reunified with parents/guardians.
- The district is estimating a pick up time of 2:40 PM or so for the Ellsworth Schools and 3:00 PM for KMS.
- You must have an ID ready to show school staff when you pick up your child.
- Students can ONLY be picked up by their parents or legal guardians during this drill.
- If you choose not to participate in the drill, your student(s) will be dismissed at the regular time from their school. Buses will be running their regular routes at their regular times.
The district wants to thank everybody in advance for their participation and in working with each of the schools to help us perform and evaluate our re-unification process. We will continue to improve and strive for safe environments in each of our schools. By doing drill like this, we help district participants to be more prepared in a situation that we all hope never happens.