March 18, 2003
 

Dear parents/guardians:

This letter is being sent to all parents and guardians of students who attend the Pine Island Public Schools.  Since the terrorist attack on 9-11, the world has changed.   Events around the world at the present time leave most of us with a sense of uncertainty and concern for what the future may bring.  In an effort to make sure parents are aware that the Pine Island School District has taken steps to ensure the safety of their children, the following information is being offered.

Last year, the school district developed plans to cover a variety of emergency situations.  These procedures are reviewed on a yearly basis.  The most recent threat of war and the possible actions resulting from an invasion of Iraq has raised our procedures and processes to a new level.  With that in mind, the following points we want to emphasize:

The school remains one of the safest places that students may be located in times of most crisis or natural disasters.

Additional emergency procedures have been established during the past few weeks and those procedures have been discussed with staff as well as the District’s Crisis Team.

Students will be kept at school until the crisis is determined to be over or the extent of the crisis has been determined.  Parents may, however, choose to pick their children up.  This is your choice and we will honor those wishes.  We do ask that checkout procedures be followed in each building as we have responsibility for all children in the school.  We ask that you do not ask to take anyone else but your children unless we have received notification from their parents.  We do not want to add to the confusion or make assumptions that parents know where their children are.  If the normal checkout procedures change (checking in with building level principal’s  office), we will have individuals stationed at the main entrance and the elementary entrance.

The school district will not be responsible for those students who leave without following the checkout procedures that are in place.

We will do our best in getting factual information out over TV, radio, and the internet.  Please do not call the school for information.  These calls will tie up our phone lines that we will need for emergency use.

If a school evacuation becomes necessary, procedures are in place for this occurrence and we will follow those procedures.

We hope these precautions and procedures will never have to be used.  However, we want to send a message to all parents that your children’s safety will be our first concern.  We feel we have plans in place that will help us do that job.

We hope that you as parents have also taken some time to discuss “these times” with your children.  These discussions should be at a level appropriate to your child’s age.  If you need information that can help you with this discussion, we can provide you with a variety of resources.  Please feel free to call your respective building level office (High School-356-8326, Middle School 356-2488, Elementary School 356-8581).

We thank you for your cooperation and if you have any concerns regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely yours,

Brian Grenell