With the start of the school year just weeks away, Lee County Schools took proactive steps to prepare for potential emergencies. On Friday, the district held a reunification training to practice safely reuniting students with parents after a crisis.
In February of last year, a bomb threat at Cape Coral High School led to hundreds of terrified parents rushing to the scene. Although no one was hurt, the event and many others underscored the need for an organized response.
Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin emphasized the importance of not rushing to the school during emergencies.
"I know as a parent... that would be the hardest thing for me, because I want to be at the school, but it actually impedes law enforcement and EMS and others trying to get in there to help our children," said Carlin.
The district will use "reunification centers" where parents can safely meet their children to address this.
"We've had the plan on paper, now we're practicing it," said spokesman Rob Spicker.
The training involved hundreds of employees, including principals and volunteers. The process begins with students and teachers being bused to designated locations, which are still to be determined. Parents then head to check in.
"I will check the parents in here, call back for the student, make sure the student is here, and we will reunify in the center," explained one of the organizer's, Chris.
Verifying relationships is crucial to avoid tragic mistakes, as highlighted by Spicker.
"It's do no harm. We want to be able to track the students and tell them where to go. If they come to the reunification center, and their child's in the hospital, we want to send them to the right hospital," said Spicker.
An actor portrayed an "angry dad" during the drill to simulate real-life tensions.
"In reality, when you're going to have 1,000, 2,000 parents lined up waiting for hours on their kids... You just lose your patience."
Lee County Schools hopes this plan will give parents some control and reassurance in the event of a school crisis. Carlin said school safety is her number one priority.
"We know that our business is educating children. There's no doubt about it, and that's super important, but children cannot learn if they don't feel safe. And so, this is a huge initiative of mine, making sure that our schools are safe and making sure that we provide mental health and behavioral support."
WINK Security Analyst Rich Kolko attended a crucial training session on reunification, which is a vital part of emergency response. The training focused on how to reunite students with their parents in the aftermath of a crisis.
He highlighted the challenges of the reunification phase, saying, "In many ways... this is the toughest phase. For the tactical response, you are dealing with law enforcement, E-M-S and other first responders who have trained for this scenario. But for the reunification, you are dealing with potentially thousands of parents, none of whom have likely trained for this. Throw in panic and social media postings and texts, and you have the recipe for chaos."
When asked how to ease the potential chaos, Kolko emphasized the importance of having a plan. "Having a reunification plan is necessary.... exercising the plan is critical," he said. "But the reality is it needs to be carried out very quickly."
Kolko explained that various communications could complicate the process. "Text from students, authorities, politicians and even the media will likely cause conflict and stress," he said.
He also stressed the need for authorities to be prepared for numerous variables. "Authorities have to be prepared for countless variables... and while we saw what they did today... Hopefully, they are having additional discussions, gaming out, and preparing for the other possibilities," he said.
He suggested that schools could benefit from learning from others who have faced similar situations. "One thing that would be helpful is talking to any other school that has been through this and learning what went right and what went wrong and incorporating that into their plan," he said.