What should I do if my child's school is in crisis and on the news?
The first thing you should do if your child's school is affected by a crisis is resist your very strong natural desire to rush to the school. If you rush to the school you are actually endangering your child. You may deny your child emergency medical attention, police assistance, and other forms of public safety assistance. We have seen this time and time again where parents and loved ones rushed to the school to help the child, only to in one case, cause EMTs to carry students seven blocks on stretchers because they couldn't get to their ambulances because parents blocked the way. So, don't rush to the school. Try to stay off your cellular phone, you can be part of the problem there clogging networks that may be needed by school and public safety officials. Tune into your school's TV channel if they have one, tune into local news, check the school system website. Generally speaking, if it's a major crisis you'll be directed to pick up your child at a site away from the school and you don't want to lose the opportunity to see your child because you're stuck in traffic near the school. So, as hard as it is to do, the best thing sometimes is to wait until you get further instruction. and I know as a parent how hard that can be but it is the best thing you can do to protect your child. Rushing to your child's school is a very dangerous thing for them and other children there.
