Meeting addresses parents’ concerns
BRAWLEY — Parents were assured on Thursday the Brawley Elementary School District is in the process of making changes to how it responds to and practices drills for perceived and credible threats to school safety.
Those assurances came during a community meeting where BESD and Brawley Police Department officials addressed parents’ questions and concerns related to the temporary lockdown and evacuation of Witter Elementary School on April 26.
“I can assure you that if it happens again, we will be better prepared,” said BESD Superintendent Jaime Silva.
The incident in question had been set in motion by a student’s report to a teacher of a suspicious-looking individual near the campus’ front gate.
In response, the teacher initiated the district’s pre-established lockdown procedure, setting into motion a series of events that were widely described Thursday as chaotic and stressful, yet effective, as well as an invaluable learning lesson.
“We’re not going to tell you it was fine because it would be a lie,” Silva said. “But we have learned some things that we are going to do different.”
Following the April 26 incident, district officials had met with authorities to discuss the incident and their respective responses and collaborative efforts. That meeting produced a series of recommendations that Silva said he was not at liberty to divulge completely.
“There are people out there that would use that information for the wrong reasons,” he said.
Some of the changes that were disclosed Thursday include having Barbara Worth Junior High gymnasium now serve as the destination point for any evacuated district students, as well as the retrieval point for parents or guardians wishing to pick up their children.
The junior high gym offers an enclosed location, air conditioning and better opportunities for monitoring who is coming and going. Should the junior high be the site of an incident, its students would be evacuated to another district campus. The decision to utilize the gym was in response to issues that arose last week from the campus’ evacuation to nearby Meserve Park, where students and staff waited for about three hours while an extensive search of the campus was conducted.
The extended evacuation had resulted in some individuals needing medical attention on account of the day’s high temperatures.
“We as school officials had no idea that the search would take the amount of time that it took,” said BESD Assistant Superintendent Luis Panduro.
The extended evacuation also had led to problems when some children were temporarily allowed to be released to parents or guardians at the park. That activity ended when a decision was made by the district to have parents retrieve their children from the school once it was secured.
“I was upset when I couldn’t get my son and really upset when someone else got my son,” said Richard Rodriguez.
Rodriguez suggested district officials have measures in place, if they haven’t already, that would ensure students are released solely to adults who are authorized to pick them up. In the event of a similar incident, parents wishing to pick up their children were advised to be ready to present identification to school officials. Parents were also advised the district would be conducting drills to practice its newly adopted evacuation and transportation protocols.
Thursday’s community meeting also elicited a number of questions from parents asking why they hadn’t been formally notified by the district about the incident until several hours after it had transpired.
In response, district officials stated that they were looking at ways to better manage such communications, and that at the time of the incident they were busy ensuring all of the students were accounted for. “Our number one priority was to ensure the kids exited the school safely,” Silva said.
Parents were also assured that starting the next school year, the district would be employing an electronic notification system that parents can download onto their smartphones that would provide information about emergency situations. The notification system, called Catapult EMS, would also have varying levels of usability, depending on whether its users are parents, teachers or administrators. The system, which Panduro said is being considered for wide adoption by other Valley school districts, will also include student rosters that would better allow individual teachers to account for their respective students.
“That’s a big deal,” Panduro said. The questions and concerns that parents raised on Thursday had also included a fair share of praise for the way in which district and public safety officials had responded on April 26. Sandra Soria said the incident had nearly brought her to tears, but that she was also heartened to see that the students did not appear to be overly concerned while waiting out their evacuation at the park. In contrast, it appeared as though the parents were the ones who had a more difficult time dealing with the situation, Soria said.
“You guys did great, and I applaud you,” Soria said.