County school safety team to conduct drill with Covenant Christian School Friday.
AMBER TOWNSHIP — The Mason County School Safety Planning Team, along with Mason County Emergency Management, will hold a “reunification drill” on Friday, Nov. 17 with students and staff at Covenant Christian School.
The purpose of the drill is to test the readiness of a new reunification plan, according to Elizabeth Reimink, emergency management coordinator.
The community may notice additional emergency vehicles and traffic around the reunification site, which will be Trinity Evangelical Free Church, 1212 Monona Dr. in Ludington. “Covenant Christian School’s families have already been notified of the drill, and community members shouldn’t notice any other issues,” Reimink said.
“Since two schools in Mason County had to reunify families as a result of bomb threats in 2016, the Mason County School Safety Planning Team has been working on developing a standardized plan for all schools and the community,” Reimink said, referring to bomb threats at Covenant Christian School and Mason County Eastern Schools. “This collaborative process has brought together school administrators, counselors, medical professionals, and emergency responders to develop a comprehensive planning template. This plan works to address a plethora of concerns related to reuniting minors with designated guardians during the recovery phase of a simple to complex emergency. Since emergency responders may be busy responding to the incident, this plan leverages the cooperative agreements amongst all Mason County schools to support the impacted district. Unaffected school districts will send personnel to help run the reunification center to facilitate the timely return of students to their parents and guardians.”
Reimink said, even though the event is only a drill, intended to only test the management and administrative controls of the reunification plan, it is a good reminder to all parents to update their emergency contact information with their child’s school administration.
“In the unfortunate event that an incident occurs at or impacts one of our community’s schools, it is extremely important that the correct list of guardians are on file with the schools. Many schools encourage parents to list several individuals who would be able to pick up their child during an unplanned or early release.”
Covenant Christian School will have only half day of classes on Friday. Parents have been pre-notified of the drill, and will received additional information from the schools during the drill according to established procedures. This drill will not impact the community; however, additional traffic in the area and personnel at Covenant Christian Schools and Trinity Evangelical Free Church may be noticed during the drill.