I guess I would not consider myself a traditional educator after reading that quote. I believe that once a child is born, they are an active member of society. They are experiencing everything that we experience, even if it does not affect them on the same level.
I am a substitute teacher for Lorain City Schools, and when Deb was giving her presentation and passed around the emergency procedures for LCCC and Amherst, I started to think about all of the different schools that I am in each day. I don’t think that I put much attention toward what the emergency procedures were in the different schools. I of course have noticed the picture hanging by the door that directs you in the proper direction for a fire drill, but other than that I believe that I would be quite lost of what to do in any other emergency situation which makes me very uncomfortable. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me; I don’t really understand why the procedures have to be different for the schools. This is why I think it is crucial to have practice drills for all types of emergency situations, so the students are each aware of what they need to do. If your students are prepared for the situation, then hopefully if their regular classroom teacher isn’t there, they would still be able to complete the task.
By establishing a plan with your students ahead of time, will better prepare them for an emergency situations that they may incur over the course of their lives, this is a large correlations between the schools and society. This is a large part of what teachers as role models prepare their students for.
The article about disaster drills mentions “even with the recent lowering of the national alert level, administrators remain on their guard”, I think regardless of what the alert level is, schools and the children that attend should always be prepared for any situation that may arise. A real emergency is not going to be planned, so being caught off guard and not prepared could result in disaster.

Should Children Be Active in Planning for Emergencies?

Children are indeed members of society the moment they are born. But it is as they grow that they increase in responsibilities and wisdom and are able to make more mature decisions. You cannot expect a child to act like an adult or to be able to think like one. Certainly all children are individuals, but we must be careful in how we treat them and not expect them to be able to think out all consequences of any given situation. As members of my classroom, the children are often invited into a discussion about our class rules and policies. These discussions are guided by me and give the children opportunities to talk over the "why" of rules and procedures with one another and with me. In this way, they are making the classroom decisions their "own" and are able to "share" in the decisions in the classroom. Ultimately, I, as the classroom teacher, am responsibile for the children in my care.
Even though Deb shared that Ohio "suggests" that emergency plans are created, most of the schools with which I have worked, have a formal plan in order. The district and each individual school has plans in place to deal with varying emergencies such as fire, tornados, and lock-down situations. Plans should be practiced in drills and all staff should be trained in procedures that are necessary to each type of drill. The students have a responsibility to follow the directions given and perhaps be a "buddy" to a special needs student during an emergency. Drills provide a better understanding of what is expected of students and staff in case of emergency. As is stated in "Disaster Drills..."we need to talk to the children, not "to frighten them, but ... [to] say something to them about why we are doing this". Information for emergencies should be posted by the door and the location of this information should be familar to students as they may need to aid a substitute teacher in the procedure.
As a substitute teacher, I know that I need to look for the emergency procedures posted in each classroom. Usually, each teacher has a substitute folder prepared with a listing of where everything is in a classroom, including these emergency procedures and packets. I think that all substitutes should recieve some training in emergencies and the specific school policies. I have been unprepared as the fire alarm went off one day and I was unaware what the certain signal meant. The students had practiced and were able to let me know what type of drill it was and what I needed to take with me. This shows that the more they practice, the better prepared they are to face the emergency with calmness.
Someone in class brought up the idea of how we know if it is a real emergency so that we might have the right "mindset" and know how to deal with the students. I believe that each time the drill begins, we should treat it as the "real thing". Why should our attitudes be different? Do we expect our children to be quiet during drills? If it were a real emergency, should they be quiet? For example, in the case of a lockdown, the lights should be off, the door locked and the children should be quiet. As Brian (?) had shared, he had recently had a situation where it was "real" although he did not know it was. Be prepared and when the real situation occurs, the fear factor will be minimal.

Children:The Underestimated Members of Society

Children are the underestimated members of our society. Children years ago had much more responsibility when we were a rural nation. Farm kids would be up before sunrise milking cows, cooking breakfast for younger siblings, walking miles to school. In some cultures, there is no such classification as “teenager”. When a child reaches 12 or 13 they are considered “adults” and are expected to act as such and contribute to their society as such. Are we underestimating our youth or have the opportunities to contribute to society faded away? This past summer a tornado ripped through an Iowa boy scout camp killing 4 and injuring many, but over and over again we heard how the boys immediately jumped in to help the injured using the first aid and life-saving skills they had been taught. These were boys 13-18 years old. Maybe we need to treat our students as capable and responsible citizens and empower them with emergency preparedness skills, so they are not sitting in the hallways or gyms during a disaster as frightened victims waiting to be helped or saved (“Disaster Drills Emphasize Plans to 'Shelter' Pupils at School”), but are educated members of a survival team. Even the youngest students can learn basic first-aid and safety procedures. Don’t we already teach them things like stop, drop, and roll? I do not remember any student being fearful about catching on fire after learning this safety method of putting out clothing fires. Actually, I think the opposite is true. The more a child knows about what to do in an emergency, the less fear they have.
Deb’s Emergency Procedures presentation clearly demonstrated the need to have plans in place for disasters and the need to practice the plans. The Collinwood School fire was scary, because the major escape route was blocked and panic ensued. This scene was played out not too many years ago in a nightclub fire. A fire broke out on stage and almost all rushed to the main exit. The exit was jammed with panicked patrons and many died. After the fire, the news reported that there were other exits available to the patrons, and many more, if not all, could have been saved. How does this relate to our schools? Our fire drills happen at predictable times and rarely are exits blocked. Have you ever had a fire drill during the lunch periods? Our school has not, because it would create too much chaos and put lunch times behind schedule. Yet when would a fire most likely erupt in the cafeteria kitchen? Our practice drills could use a little creativity.
Granted, our students need adult direction and expertise to be ready for disasters, but maybe we should enable our student body to be active, educated participants in our emergency preparedness. Then, as they go out into society, they will take what they have learned in our schools into the home, church, work place, and community. We will all be the better for it.

Protect Our Future-The Way We Know How

This quote is sort of general to me and I am having difficulty relating it to emergency procedures for the youth. But, I guess when you think about it, it is true that students are already members of society. When you are born you become a member of the society. However, I still agree that one of the roles of schools is to produce good citizens and productive members. Through their years in school the students become more and more developed and begin to give back more things to society.

For students to be able to be part of society, we must protect them. Emergency procedures protects the youth in the case of an emergency to be able to make it to the next day as a citizen. I think that Deb’s presentation showed us how important it is to practice these procedures. It was heartbreaking hearing some of the history on this topic. I also couldn’t believe the stat from the Preparing for Emergencies article. 18 states don’t have requirements for written emergency plans. I feel like this is something that could easily be so universal. I love the little red flip book we passed around class. Having that in a visible spot by the door of every room of every building would be great! It is universal so substitutes or anyone in the room could easily find what to do. (I was thinking back to the other day when I was visiting a school to tutor a child. A teacher I know asked me to just pop in and watch her kids while she ran to the restroom. What if at that moment the fire alarm went off? With a universal plan I could just grab the flip book and go.)

I was thinking about how emergency situations can be different and the same in varying environments. I have worked in many special education settings where behaviors in the classroom could result in an emergency. I think that MOST teachers do everything with a good intention and the good of the student in mind. But I know at times we can be fearful to react to situations in certain ways. I worked at a school for students with cognative delay and an alternative school for students with behavior difficulties. In both places I received training for Non-violent Crisis Intervention for working with this population. (Appropriate holds to protect the student or staff.) At the alternative school the supervisors trusted that you would only use these methods when you felt it was necessary for the safety of the staff/students or when needed to control behaviors. At the school for students with CD you could really only use specific holds with specific children who had behavior plans. This was nerve racking as a teacher because I didn’t know when it was ok and when it wasn’t. And then people walking through the halls could get the wrong impression. So then I didn’t want to use the holds at all, even though they were necessary at times. In the Mo. House article they found a way to protect teachers from lawsuits so long as they were following policies in place. I think this protection shows the teachers that the administration trusts them. Now I do know that some may not following these policies, but should they really be teachers anyways?

Overall, we have to protect our members who bring the smiles to our classrooms and will hold the hope of our future!

Members or Not

Well sure, children can be considered members of society since anyone that is born into our society is a member. But what we are trying to create or mold are contributing, responsible members of society.A working teenager who earns a paycheck and is paying back into the system can be considered a contributing member of society as well as the teenager who volunteers his time at the homeless shelter.

In terms of safety and emergency procedures, I don't think young children can be responsible for the whole. The jobs of creating crisis plans and procedures should be left to those that have experience or are educated in that area. I listed many types of emergencies in my presentation and some disasters that occurred due to these emergency situations and I think that a level headed, forward thinking adult must be in charge. That is for sure not to say all adults are level headed in these situations, some children may be more so, but sureness and wisdom seem necessary.

So many psychological and psychosocial implications happen after a crisis takes place. There is proof that children as well as adults must have immediate grief counseling and this responsibility falls on the school administration. We must take care of our members of society that belong to the smaller school family in order that they are well adjusted and thus able to contribute.

I agree with David Gribble in that children are already members of society but I don't think that teachers have overlooked this idea. I think that teachers may consider children miniature members that need to gain knowledge and experience and we should treat them with the respect they deserve at each stage of the process. It would be interesting to hear Gribble's opinion on what consequences transpire due to that overlooked truth.