What our public schools did yesterday...

[Sahamamama]

I thought I had heard everything, but yesterday I heard a new one. :tongue_smilie:We received a computerized phone call stating that a Boil Water Advisory had been put in place. We heard that our local water treatment plant had been compromised because too much muddy water was coming in from the river.

 

As a result of the contamination, the water pressure fell in the whole region, and four of the local schools were affected. The schools claim that they couldn't offer clean drinking water and flushing toilets to the kids, so.... they sent them home!

 

There is an "Instant Alert" system in place that sends emails and phone calls to parents/guardians. However, the school began sending children home BEFORE the parents were notified! There were numerous parents who didn't get the notification in time to either walk their children home, pick them up at the schools, or meet the child at the bus stop/house. There were 5 and 6 year olds who were sent home, in the rain, with no one there to meet them. :crying:

 

My sister says the whole town is in an uproar over this now. Her 8 year old daughter was sent home alone, in the rain, with no key. If I had known about this, I would have gone over there to get her, poor kid. One of her brothers was also let go early, and when he got home, they both got in safely.

 

I just keep thinking that there are many more WORSE things than non-flushing toilets that could happen to children sent home in this way. My husband was appalled. "Add that to the list, Honey," he said, "we now have a new reason to home school."

 

All day today, I've been looking at my sweet 5 year old Kindergartner thinking, "If I had dropped her off there yesterday, and gone to Walmart with her sisters, I would never have known to be here early." We don't have a cell phone. I can't imagine her getting off the bus and coming home, with no key, in the pouring rain, and not knowing WHAT to do!

 

My girls home with me, but I have been so upset today, thinking about the school system's decision to send the children home without letting parents know. Sorry for the rant.

[Liz CA]

Not to minimize the school's idiotic behavior (can you imagine a child had arrived home without a parent present and then disappeared??) but it's always good to practice an emergency plan with children. It makes them more comfortable with unexpected situations. Something like, "if you are ever here and I am not, you go to....or hide behind the house on the patio"...or whatever.

 

[Sahamamama]

Not to minimize the school's idiotic behavior (can you imagine a child had arrived home without a parent present and then disappeared??) but it's always good to practice an emergency plan with children. It makes them more comfortable with unexpected situations. Something like, "if you are ever here and I am not, you go to....or hide behind the house on the patio"...or whatever.

 

 

I agree that it's a good idea to set up an emergency plan, even with a five year old, but I think the school district took a BIG RISK with the lives of many children, a risk I don't think was wisely undertaken.

 

This morning on the school's website, there was this apologetic letter:

 

We apologize for any inconvenience to our families for our early dismissal. We thank you for your cooperation in getting your children home as safely and efficiently as possible due to our water emergency.

 

As you know, at 11:55 am, we lost water in four of our five schools. We were informed that due to problems at TWW, those schools would not have water for several hours. At that point, we made the decision that we could not keep the children in schools without toilets or running water. We then put into place an emergency dismissal plan to get the students home as quickly as possible. Instant Alert and our website were used to provide updates relative to that process. The school administration reviewed this emergency shortly after noon. If we had been told that water would be returning shortly to the schools, we probably would have kept the kids with us. But upon being informed that we would not have water for hours, we really were forced to send the kids home. We could not see keeping kids at our school for over three hours with no toilet or running water.

 

Since the window for a standard early dismissal had already passed, we had to come up with a dismissal protocol on the fly, with our goal to get kids home as soon as possible. While obviously there will always be some glitches in a process such as this, we really did appreciate the support and attitude of the staff and school community. Thanks.

This afternoon, the explanatory letter is gone. :001_huh:

[Murmer]

Why couldn't they offer bottled water? We had a boil water act my first year of school...at 6 am the principal was at Walmart buying up as much bottled water as he could and paper cups...we kept the cups on the kids desks and gave them water when ever they wanted...and this was in Phoenix in May. No kids where sent home and school still happened. The school was lazy in my opinion and didn't want to think outside the box.

[Sahamamama]

Why couldn't they offer bottled water? We had a boil water act my first year of school...at 6 am the principal was at Walmart buying up as much bottled water as he could and paper cups...we kept the cups on the kids desks and gave them water when ever they wanted...and this was in Phoenix in May. No kids where sent home and school still happened. The school was lazy in my opinion and didn't want to think outside the box.

 

That's what we said. Couldn't they go to ShopRite or Sam's and just grab up the bottled water? Shouldn't they even have some stocked up, anyway, just in case something like this happens?

 

It wasn't as if the schools had NO water, just LOW water that was not drinkable. But you can flush a toilet by pouring water in the bowl, and that water doesn't need to be potable. :tongue_smilie:Have a custodian or teacher aide stand outside a few toilet rooms and go in after the kids are done to pour the water in the bowl.

 

Was it really worth the risk of sending home children as young as FOUR (there are still some four year olds in the Kindergarten classes) before notifying parents?

[fhjmom]

Why couldn't they offer bottled water? We had a boil water act my first year of school...at 6 am the principal was at Walmart buying up as much bottled water as he could and paper cups...we kept the cups on the kids desks and gave them water when ever they wanted...and this was in Phoenix in May. No kids where sent home and school still happened. The school was lazy in my opinion and didn't want to think outside the box.

 

I think the bigger issue was lack of water pressure and no working toilets.

 

Anyway you look, the school messed up *HUGE*. Students should never be released early without parents' consent/knowledge. They are very fortunate that nothing bad happened. A couple of times when I was teaching high school, we had to dismiss early unexpectedly due to power outages and even the high school kids were not released without parent permission (with teenagers, there is a whole different set of issues that come with unsupervised students ;)).

 

That explanation is even worse, admitting they don't have any sort of plan in place is crazy (both the fact they *don't* have a plan and that they would admit it) :tongue_smilie:.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I agree that it's a good idea to set up an emergency plan, even with a five year old, but I think the school district took a BIG RISK with the lives of many children, a risk I don't think was wisely undertaken.

 

This morning on the school's website, there was this apologetic letter:

 

We apologize for any inconvenience to our families for our early dismissal. We thank you for your cooperation in getting your children home as safely and efficiently as possible due to our water emergency.

 

As you know, at 11:55 am, we lost water in four of our five schools. We were informed that due to problems at TWW, those schools would not have water for several hours. At that point, we made the decision that we could not keep the children in schools without toilets or running water. We then put into place an emergency dismissal plan to get the students home as quickly as possible. Instant Alert and our website were used to provide updates relative to that process. The school administration reviewed this emergency shortly after noon. If we had been told that water would be returning shortly to the schools, we probably would have kept the kids with us. But upon being informed that we would not have water for hours, we really were forced to send the kids home. We could not see keeping kids at our school for over three hours with no toilet or running water.

 

Since the window for a standard early dismissal had already passed, we had to come up with a dismissal protocol on the fly, with our goal to get kids home as soon as possible. While obviously there will always be some glitches in a process such as this, we really did appreciate the support and attitude of the staff and school community. Thanks.

This afternoon, the explanatory letter is gone. :001_huh:

 

And that was an apology? I didn't see a mea culpa in there at all - more of a "defending their stupid actions".

[happi duck]

That's what we said. Couldn't they go to ShopRite or Sam's and just grab up the bottled water? Shouldn't they even have some stocked up, anyway, just in case something like this happens?

 

It wasn't as if the schools had NO water, just LOW water that was not drinkable. But you can flush a toilet by pouring water in the bowl, and that water doesn't need to be potable. :tongue_smilie:Have a custodian or teacher aide stand outside a few toilet rooms and go in after the kids are done to pour the water in the bowl.

 

Was it really worth the risk of sending home children as young as FOUR (there are still some four year olds in the Kindergarten classes) before notifying parents?

 

:iagree: I taught at a school that lost water for a couple of days. The school brought in bottled water and the custodian did a bucket flush every hour or so. A few hours of unflushed toilets is no reason to send kids out alone...what a weird reason for the school to go into panic mode and send the kids home.

[mommaduck]

I thought I had heard everything, but yesterday I heard a new one. :tongue_smilie:We received a computerized phone call stating that a Boil Water Advisory had been put in place. We heard that our local water treatment plant had been compromised because too much muddy water was coming in from the river.

 

As a result of the contamination, the water pressure fell in the whole region, and four of the local schools were affected. The schools claim that they couldn't offer clean drinking water and flushing toilets to the kids, so.... they sent them home!

 

There is an "Instant Alert" system in place that sends emails and phone calls to parents/guardians. However, the school began sending children home BEFORE the parents were notified! There were numerous parents who didn't get the notification in time to either walk their children home, pick them up at the schools, or meet the child at the bus stop/house. There were 5 and 6 year olds who were sent home, in the rain, with no one there to meet them. :crying:

 

My sister says the whole town is in an uproar over this now. Her 8 year old daughter was sent home alone, in the rain, with no key. If I had known about this, I would have gone over there to get her, poor kid. One of her brothers was also let go early, and when he got home, they both got in safely.

 

I just keep thinking that there are many more WORSE things than non-flushing toilets that could happen to children sent home in this way. My husband was appalled. "Add that to the list, Honey," he said, "we now have a new reason to home school."

 

All day today, I've been looking at my sweet 5 year old Kindergartner thinking, "If I had dropped her off there yesterday, and gone to Walmart with her sisters, I would never have known to be here early." We don't have a cell phone. I can't imagine her getting off the bus and coming home, with no key, in the pouring rain, and not knowing WHAT to do!

 

My girls home with me, but I have been so upset today, thinking about the school system's decision to send the children home without letting parents know. Sorry for the rant.

I remember this happening many times when I was a kid. Back then they didn't call parents. You just went home. Not sure what happened with younger kids without older siblings. (I was a latchkey kid)

Edited October 5, 2010 by mommaduck

[Pretty in Pink]

When I was in school we did not have automated systems in place to notify parents of early dismissals. Cell phones were not a thing yet. I don't know what happened back then? I guess I'm lucky that my mother was always at home!

[Carrie12345]

Wow. I'm just trying to imagine what my kids would have done. Our bus stop is about a mile from our house, and it's been in the 40's and pouring.

[hsbeth]

Agreeing with others that it wasn't necessary to send the kids home. Our older children used to attend a public school that was quite rural. Because the school was on a wel,l they would lose water whenever there was a power outage. They did not send the children home. They had a staff member (usually a paraprofessional) staff each restroom. Children were offered hand sanitizer and the school kept a supply of bottled water on hand. When the toilets became overly dirty they were bucket flushed.

 

At that time I was the director of a small private school and post 9/11 all schools were required to submit emergency plans. One requirement was to have set amounts of shelf safe food and bottled water available at all times, so much per individual at the school. All schools should have emergency supplies on hand.

 

This same school did decide to do a mid-day release during a winter snowstorm. The buses ended up departing the school before all parents could be notified and several elementary aged children were left literally out in the cold. The superintendent almost lost his job over this. The district no longer does emergency mid-day releases. They either delay or cancel school officially in the morning or they make mid-day requests for parents to come to the school and pick up their children.

 

We now live in GA and no longer use the public schools, however there was a local emergency at the end of last year. The schools here contacted parents to come and pick up their children, but held all children in the gym until that pick-up occurred. That is a much safer option, IMO and requires only minimal staff once the majority of children have been released to parents.

[Sahamamama]

Wow. I'm just trying to imagine what my kids would have done. Our bus stop is about a mile from our house, and it's been in the 40's and pouring.

 

Rainy and cold here, too. We're just south of you, on the Jersey side of the muddy Delaware. :D My five year old, had she been enrolled in Kindergarten this year, would not have even had a KEY to get into the house.

[mcconnellboys]

I guess I'm confused. I did not think that schools are allowed to just let children loose without a parent there to receive them. I thought they either had to be put onto a bus or handed over to a parent. How on earth can a school send 5/6 year olds walking down the road in the rain? Would any of them even know where to go or what to do? What if one of them had disappeared? Or got run over? I just don't understand how this could happen....

[Kirch]

I guess I'm confused. I did not think that schools are allowed to just let children loose without a parent there to receive them. I thought they either had to be put onto a bus or handed over to a parent. How on earth can a school send 5/6 year olds walking down the road in the rain? Would any of them even know where to go or what to do? What if one of them had disappeared? Or got run over? I just don't understand how this could happen....

 

They were probably put onto a bus, but they were still stuck outside when they got home because there was no one there. And they may have had to walk from the bus stop to the house.

[Gwenhwyfar]

I agree that it's a good idea to set up an emergency plan, even with a five year old, but I think the school district took a BIG RISK with the lives of many children, a risk I don't think was wisely undertaken.

 

This morning on the school's website, there was this apologetic letter:

 

We apologize for any inconvenience to our families for our early dismissal. We thank you for your cooperation in getting your children home as safely and efficiently as possible due to our water emergency.

 

As you know, at 11:55 am, we lost water in four of our five schools. We were informed that due to problems at TWW, those schools would not have water for several hours. At that point, we made the decision that we could not keep the children in schools without toilets or running water. We then put into place an emergency dismissal plan to get the students home as quickly as possible. Instant Alert and our website were used to provide updates relative to that process. The school administration reviewed this emergency shortly after noon. If we had been told that water would be returning shortly to the schools, we probably would have kept the kids with us. But upon being informed that we would not have water for hours, we really were forced to send the kids home. We could not see keeping kids at our school for over three hours with no toilet or running water.

 

Since the window for a standard early dismissal had already passed, we had to come up with a dismissal protocol on the fly, with our goal to get kids home as soon as possible. While obviously there will always be some glitches in a process such as this, we really did appreciate the support and attitude of the staff and school community. Thanks.

This afternoon, the explanatory letter is gone. :001_huh:

 

prolly down for legal reasons...admitting "glitches" and such....

[Gwenhwyfar]

When I was in school we did not have automated systems in place to notify parents of early dismissals. Cell phones were not a thing yet. I don't know what happened back then? I guess I'm lucky that my mother was always at home!

 

even just a few years ago when my kids were in ps for a bit, we had to fill out forms that said where kids were to go in the event of an early dismissal - if it was home, or somewhere else. all of that info was checked & bus numbers were set up (if the child took a bus and would need to take a diff one to the other place) and such.

[Sahamamama]

probably down for legal reasons...admitting "glitches" and such....

 

:iagree:AND admitting that they came up with their plan "on the fly" and that they didn't even have enough bottled drinking water on hand for a mere 3 HOURS. :tongue_smilie:

 

We've been wondering what the other school districts affected by the water problem did that day.

[tabmtbc]

I thought I had heard everything, but yesterday I heard a new one. :tongue_smilie:We received a computerized phone call stating that a Boil Water Advisory had been put in place. We heard that our local water treatment plant had been compromised because too much muddy water was coming in from the river.

 

As a result of the contamination, the water pressure fell in the whole region, and four of the local schools were affected. The schools claim that they couldn't offer clean drinking water and flushing toilets to the kids, so.... they sent them home!

 

There is an "Instant Alert" system in place that sends emails and phone calls to parents/guardians. However, the school began sending children home BEFORE the parents were notified! There were numerous parents who didn't get the notification in time to either walk their children home, pick them up at the schools, or meet the child at the bus stop/house. There were 5 and 6 year olds who were sent home, in the rain, with no one there to meet them. :crying:

 

My sister says the whole town is in an uproar over this now. Her 8 year old daughter was sent home alone, in the rain, with no key. If I had known about this, I would have gone over there to get her, poor kid. One of her brothers was also let go early, and when he got home, they both got in safely.

 

I just keep thinking that there are many more WORSE things than non-flushing toilets that could happen to children sent home in this way. My husband was appalled. "Add that to the list, Honey," he said, "we now have a new reason to home school."

 

All day today, I've been looking at my sweet 5 year old Kindergartner thinking, "If I had dropped her off there yesterday, and gone to Walmart with her sisters, I would never have known to be here early." We don't have a cell phone. I can't imagine her getting off the bus and coming home, with no key, in the pouring rain, and not knowing WHAT to do!

 

My girls home with me, but I have been so upset today, thinking about the school system's decision to send the children home without letting parents know. Sorry for the rant.

Oh wow. This is a new one on me.

[katilac]

I remember this happening many times when I was a kid. Back then they didn't call parents. You just went home. Not sure what happened with younger kids without older siblings. (I was a latchkey kid)

 

Really? I started grade school in 1971, and I can't imagine the school just sending us home like that. Never would have happened!

[LibraryLover]

Really? I started grade school in 1971, and I can't imagine the school just sending us home like that. Never would have happened!

 

 

Sounds crazy!!

 

On the upside, I have not heard anything on the news that any children were harmed by this early release.

 

1971 was a million years before cell phones, so I am hoping that nearly 100% of these children's parents were able to be reached, either through cells, or through the emergency numbers that parents are asked to provide.

 

Modern communication technology had it's perks.

Edited October 10, 2010 by LibraryLover