I was at Hadley when the severe weather warning was issued. It was the end of the day and I'm sure that staff and students all wanted to get out of there. The staff did a great job of making sure everyone was safe and calm. Due to some odd circumstances I know that the staff at Churchill, which was dismissing when the storm hit and brought students back in the building, and Forest Glen also did fantastic jobs of keeping all of the children safe and calm and feeling protected during a confusing time.

Glenbard West, with its decision to open this morning, on the other hand has sent my daugther into a panic!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mrs. 144,

I concur, Forest Glen did an outstanding job yesterday -- only the second day of school! Power was lost, halls were dark but the teachers and staff kept kids safe, calm and orderly. One teacher was playing Simon Says with her first grade class to keep them occupied and calm. Well done.

Agreed, Mrs. 144. I was going to write the same thing....with the EXACT same title.

My mommy went to pick up the little one from FG....and they not only put the kids into a protective, albeit dark (after the power went off) cocoon...but dragged the parents in, also.

Hats off to Doug Craig and his staff. Oh....wait....he isn't there any longer. Hats off to that woman whose name I don't know and her staff.

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Agreed, Mrs. 144. I was going to write the same thing....with the EXACT same title.

My mommy went to pick up the little one from FG....and they not only put the kids into a protective, albeit dark (after the power went off) cocoon...but dragged the parents in, also.

Hats off to Doug Craig and his staff. Oh....wait....he isn't there any longer. Hats off to that woman whose name I don't know and her staff.

Hornacek? Isn't that her name? If so, how could you forget such a famous last name?

This paragraph appeared in the Daily Herald opinion section:

"And Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 and Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 are wise to evaluate their severe storm emergency procedures. Some schools in these districts dismissed some students just before the height of Thursday's storm, believing it was safe for them to go home. Such a potentially risky situation has to be avoided in the future."

What D41 school let the kids out too soon?

Churchill. They let some of them out a few minutes early so the children could get home before the storm. As soon as they realized how bad it was, they held all of the children that were still there and brought back the ones they could.

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Originally posted by Fish:

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Agreed, Mrs. 144. I was going to write the same thing....with the EXACT same title.

My mommy went to pick up the little one from FG....and they not only put the kids into a protective, albeit dark (after the power went off) cocoon...but dragged the parents in, also.

Hats off to Doug Craig and his staff. Oh....wait....he isn't there any longer. Hats off to that woman whose name I don't know and her staff.

Hornacek? Isn't that her name? If so, how could you forget such a famous last name?

Jeff's old man John was my dean at St. Joes. Talk about an intimidating figure. His hands were so big, that when he slapped your head there was no part of it that went untouched. One mean mo fo that guy!

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Originally posted by bitterboy:

quote:

Originally posted by Fish:

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Agreed, Mrs. 144. I was going to write the same thing....with the EXACT same title.

My mommy went to pick up the little one from FG....and they not only put the kids into a protective, albeit dark (after the power went off) cocoon...but dragged the parents in, also.

Hats off to Doug Craig and his staff. Oh....wait....he isn't there any longer. Hats off to that woman whose name I don't know and her staff.

Hornacek? Isn't that her name? If so, how could you forget such a famous last name?

Jeff's old man John was my dean at St. Joes. Talk about an intimidating figure. His hands were so big, that when he slapped your head there was no part of it that went untouched. One mean mo fo that guy!

Jeff's dad must have taken on a new persona at school. He always was nice to me.

Who wouldn't be? As one of the top 10 influential men in Glen Ellyn...who would dare piss you off?

me???

We got a lengthy letter of apology from district 44 supt. ...apparently a couple of bus drivers are out of a job (at least witin the district). Naturally, it's the little guy who takes the hit and not the administrators who make the decisions. My kids made it home within 4 minutes of the storm hitting our area.

You got an apology? Wow, maybe you should send a copy into the D41 offices. They don't seem to know the meaning of "apologize." Here's D41's message.

I am certainly glad that my daughter is now in 6th grade.

quote:

Originally posted by my2cents:
me???

We got a lengthy letter of apology from district 44 supt. ...apparently a couple of bus drivers are out of a job (at least witin the district). Naturally, it's the little guy who takes the hit and not the administrators who make the decisions. My kids made it home within 4 minutes of the storm hitting our area.

How in the world is this the bus drivers' fault? If the kids are sent to the bus, what was he/she supposed to do?

quote:

Originally posted by ohma:
You got an apology? Wow, maybe you should send a copy into the D41 offices. They don't seem to know the meaning of "apologize." Here's D41's message.

Please read OHMA's link, but let's all read between the lines of this paragraph:

"We are extremely thankful that no child, staff member or parent was hurt during this frightening event,” said Dr. Ann Riebock. (otherwise tort immunity might not be applicable for those who were let outside)

“I want to thank our principals, our staff members and our parents who displayed calm, courage and commitment to children during trying conditions. We are learning a lot (errors are always a learning experience)

from this storm and are committed to improving our emergency preparedness systems and training (because listening to WBBM radio would be inadequate to prepare for the storm that was moving from West Chicago and due to hit Glen Ellyn at 3:20).”
__________________
Common sense is always good in these situations. Monitoring the internet weather site is nice, but earlier dismissal and a gamble on kids making making it home is no excuse.

In this century's political climate, apologies are not required. Evaluation of systems and commitment to improvement are admissions. How about if they said this:

"To our parents in District 41. We are sorry we did not communicate effectively in the emergency situation of August 23. We spent your money on a system that works fine with a lot of warning but is not flexible for emergencies. It happened at the end of the day which, as you know, is a hectic period on the best days. We were caught a little flat-footed, and while we had your children's best interests in mind, we were all fortunate nothing serious happened. You, as the stakeholders (love that word!) are entitled to better performance. We will not let you down in the future."

See? We are all adults. We respect frankness and honesty.

Glad to see you still got it Ron! This is funny stuff.

This is priceless:

"Churchill had been monitoring Internet weather sites and watching the sky".

The only thing they forgot to mention was that they had in hand their aboriginal weather stick, but through no fault of their own couldn't locate any indigenous peoples who knew how to competently use it. Don't be surprised if not shortly there is a position posting for an in-house meteorologist.

"Some students who had already crossed Geneva Road took shelter with neighbors" and probably strangers who were in handing out candy.

Who wrote this ****?

sure looks like Julie's fingers on the keyboard to me!

All schools are equipped with an emergency weather alert system. When severe weather is approaching, the alert goes off (annoying and somewhat loud) and an announcement follows explaining what is approaching. Usually schools have 30 minutes or so of warning time. I'm a little suprised Churchill dismissed given that some kids walk nearly a mile but, I wasn't there...I think the parents will likely handle this.

Yigo, did our friend in common, with children at Churchill, mention her thoughts on this?

The walk from Churchill to my house is over a mile...partially because the kids have to walk east to cross at the light then back west again to get to the school. If you drive from my house it is under a mile.

quote:

Yigo, did our friend in common, with children at Churchill, mention her thoughts on this?

Amy, our friend was not happy. It took her 20 minutes to find her oldest daughter who was safe.

Her daughter was in the process of crossing Geneva Rd. when the rain and wind hit. When her Mom found her she was soaking wet and had a lot of anxiety.