Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a process schools are required to use when they need to conduct a controlled and safe release of students to parents or guardians following an emergency or other significant disruption to the normal school schedule. On this episode of the Supercast, we dive into the most important details of Reunification. We'll explain why understanding how Reunification works can help us get students safely back home to loved ones in an emergency situation. We're talking today with Lance Everill, our Emergency Operations Manager. Lance, thanks for taking time again to be on the Supercast.

Lance Everill:
Good morning. It's my pleasure to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Lance does a ton of great work to keep us all safe, and students in particular, here in Jordan School District as you've heard on previous podcast episodes. If you've been listening in. We wanted to talk with him today about the Reunification process. What it is, when we might use that process, and what it will look like, first of all, from a parent's perspective. I want to remind everyone, this is just one aspect of what we do to keep kids safe and to keep our employees safe. So many different things can possibly happen when we have as many students and employees and buildings as we do, and so we have to be prepared for anything. So it's rare that we need to use this procedure, but we really want to be sure that we have it in place, and that we've trained well, and that we're prepared if we do need it. So, Lance, would you mind starting out just telling us about what Reunification is and when we might need it?

Lance Everill:
So a Reunification would be a time when we have to release students either earlier than a normal release time or later than a normal release time. And this would be because there's some type of an emergency or disruption to the normal school day schedule that would cause us to have to do that. Now, that's obviously not what we want to do is to release students at a time different than normal. And the reason is, is because at that normal release time, the whole rest of the world outside of the school district and the school, lines up to meet and greet, and receive, and pick up, and babysitters, and family members, and neighbors, and whomever might have that charge to take care of those kids. So ideally, we always release that normal end of the school day, but we do have the ability to then release early or later if it's warranted.

Anthony Godfrey:
We only need Reunification after something has happened at the school that requires us, as you said, to either keep kids in place beyond the end of the school day or to release them early. And there can be any number of reasons for that. But there's been communication to parents before Reunification happens about what's happening at the school.

Lance Everill:
Yes. Yeah, so we have multiple means to do that. The most common way that the District communicates with parents is through the Skylert Messaging System. So all parents and guardians should h