The Emergency Response

Well, we thought we had a pretty good emergency response plan in place prior to the flood. But you never really know if you have thought of everything until you need to activate it, then it gets tested.

Our primary objectives were
- secure the environment so no one gets hurt
- provide for the welfare of the students and parents
- provide for the welfare of our staff
- restore the school so life gets back to normal.

Fortunately, the emergency happened at night so no students or teachers were at risk.

Once we realized that the school would be unusable for a while, we wanted to offer alternate care for our students and parents. Our options included
  - Care at other area Growing Kids Centers
  - A near-by church that rented us space for our infants and toddlers
  - Meadows Edge elementary school that allowed us to use their gym for after-school students.

Further, we wanted to take care of our staff. Our teachers were upset that all their hard work in getting ready for Back To School had been destroyed. It really looked great - the kids were excited for all the projects and displays in the classrooms. The teachers were also worried about their students - the change in their daily routine, making sure they were OK and not upset. We offered our teachers temporary positions at other Growing Kids centers to provide familiar faces for many of their displaced students, and to minimize any financial strain for the teachers as well. As available, teachers have been helping with the clean up effort at their school on Ireland Road. The entire Growing Kids team across all centers have been helping - welcoming new students, working with teachers from other schools, meeting new parents.

Getting the school back together is a whole other discussion. Needless to say, we moved as quickly as we could in identifying the depth (no pun intended) of the problem, and the best remedy. Reopening quickly is important. More important that the water damage be cleaned up properly so that the school is a safe learning environment for the kids moving forward. Doing it right has added some time to the repairs. We will keep you posted.

We have been planning for something like this to happen and we have been preparing. We have been shifting major systems to online / cloud-based providers so our other centers could provide support. Some of the systems we have put into place to respond to an extended evacuation situation include:
  - Using ProCare for school administration: This online software allows us to access student information from other Growing Kids locations even when Ireland Road Center's computers were all destroyed.
  - LifeCubby for parent communication: This online service has enabled us to maintain communication with parents, and maintain continuity of the care for the children.
  - Staff Training and Safety Procedures - We have developed emergency procedures and staff have been training in the event something happens. Well, something happened.
  - Facebook - Since so many parents and family members are on Facebook, it has become a useful tool to communicate.

I haven't listed them all, but I hope you get the idea. After this is all over, we will do an analysis to see what could be improved. If you have any ideas now, please let me know Garatoni@GrowingKids.com.

A final word - While plans and preparations are good to have. it requires people to react, adjust, and make things happen. Please accept my heartfelt thanks to students, parents, teachers, and friends of the school for their help, patience, and understanding.

Thanks.

Mike