Code Red! Code Yellow!

by Lynn K. McMullin

As a child growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, I experienced the duck-and-cover style civil defense preparedness drills that followed the Soviet Union’s development of a nuclear weapon and the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were taught to fall to the ground and get under something if we saw a bright light. We practiced going to the school basement and lining up in rows along the basement walls; littlest kids closest to the wall, biggest kids on the outside. I lived within one mile of the school; so in one drill, when the town’s air raid siren sounded, I ran home as fast as I could,  My mother was supposed to time me and report my time to the principal.

Thank goodness times have changed! Hopefully, we have grown more cognizant of how emergencies actually happen; and, while we still must prepare for these emergencies, more sensitive to our children’s feelings when they experience that ‘preparedness.’

I’m not going to share with you the details of our Code Red and Code Yellow procedures, as publicizing those plans would be counter-productive to children’s and teacher's safety; but I do want to explain when, how, and why we practice.

First of all, this year new legislation required that we practice our emergency procedures (Code Red and Code Yellow) a minimum of three times a year. Previous legislation required 10 fire drills per school year. Now, we may add the three emergency drills to that schedule to total thirteen drills; or, we may substitute up to three emergency drills for the fire drills, keeping a schedule of ten total drills per year. Canton will be doing the latter. From 2009 – 2010 on, we will have seven fire drills and three emergency drills. The thinking is that for decades no student has died in a school fire because everyone knows exactly where to go and what to do; the same level of practice might prevent misfortune in other types of emergencies.

All school administrators and town officials have what is called an “Annex O Handbook.” It was written by committee and is revised every July. Its goal is to “establish protocols and guidelines for all agencies who would be responding to Canton School facilities so that any incidents would be handled as rapidly as possible thereby allowing an orderly return to the business of educating the children of Canton.” It contains protocols for everything from severe weather to bomb threats to finding a mysterious package to locating a missing child, and so on. Depending upon the situation, a Code Red or Code Yellow is called by the principal or other administrator. Code Red emergencies indicate a threat within the school; Code Yellow emergencies indicate a threat outside of the school. In both cases, the doors to the buildings are locked and no one can leave or enter.

To be prepared for these kinds of potential emergencies, we do hold drills as mentioned above. Just as with fire drills, which have become commonplace and routine, Code Red and Code Yellow drills do not constitute a real emergency. Students are always told “This is a drill” and reassured that there is no reason to worry. During drills, teachers remain calm and practice the procedures that have been outlined for them.

When one school has a Code Red drill; the other two school buildings will always have a Code Yellow drill. This is because the Canton Police and Adam Libros, the Director of Emergency Management, attend the Code Red drills so that they can provide feedback to the principal and teachers at a faculty meeting later that same afternoon. Canton’s emergency responders are too limited in number for us to effectively practice a Code Red drill at all three school buildings simultaneously; therefore, we stagger our Code Reds. The debriefing sessions we’ve held so far have been very helpful. While teachers always want to know exactly what they should do in a variety of ‘what if’ situations, they are reminded that real emergencies aren’t predictable and common sense prevails.

To date, we have had several real Code Yellows where a possible or perceived emergency was outside the school buildings.  In none of these instances were any children ever endangered.  An incident where a bear was spotted on the playground at Cherry Brook Primary School is just one example. We realize that it can be inconvenient for parents when the doors are locked and you can’t get in… or sometimes, can’t get out. But the strict procedures to lock the doors are in place for well-intended reasons.  
In a real Code Yellow, we will use AlertNow’s everyday calling and emailing feature to let you know what happened. This phone call will look like a call from Central Office, or from the school, on your caller-ID; it will begin 860-693-77xx.  In a real Code Red, however, we will use AlertNow’s emergency calling and emailing feature as soon as possible to let you know what is happening. Your caller-ID will display 411.

Remember, in a real Code Red, you should not come to the school that is experiencing the emergency situation. Past emergencies in other school systems have taught us that, especially when roads and driveways are narrow (as they are in Canton), citizen traffic to the location of the emergency can delay the access and mobility of the rescue personnel. Wait for the AlertNow message to tell you where to congregate and what to do.

My intention this week was to provide reassurance, not to create a sense of urgency or alarm. We have had one emergency drill to date and need to conduct two additional drills to be in compliance. We hopefully enter into all of our emergency preparedness with a sense of compassion for our children; we want them to feel safe in their classrooms. At the same time, we want you to feel comfortable that we know how to protect them, as we know you would, in an emergency.