Kane County school districts, first responders improve emergency preparedness with reunification training
In the effort to build a safer, more prepared Kane County, hundreds of school district staff members and emergency response personnel have taken a crucial step in understanding how to navigate crisis situations.
The Kane County Regional Office of Education hosted six reunification training sessions over three days this month, drawing participants from across the county.
The training was originally created by the I Love u Guys Foundation, which began in 2006 under Ellen and John-Michael Keyes after losing their daughter, Emily, in a school shooting.
The hands-on sessions are aimed at familiarizing participants with standard response protocols, methods of identifying family members and reunifying them with students, and emotional management strategies.
Participants were led through the responsibilities of school district staff and emergency response personnel in situations where reunification becomes necessary. In some instances, students and staff may need to move to an alternate location should their school building become uninhabitable, such as a fire or gas leak.
The sessions were held at Christ Community Church in South Elgin, which could serve as a relocation site for multiple Kane County school districts. This allowed attendees to visualize what a reunification situation might look like as they took turns acting out scenarios from the perspective of family members, staff members, and students.
“There are so many logistics that are involved with a crisis situation. If those circumstances were to unfold, you don’t have the luxury of time to prepare,” said Patricia Dal Santo, Regional Superintendent for Kane County. “It is vital to understand how transportation will be handled, who will be the liaison for first responders, how families, staff, and community members will be communicated with, and most importantly, how students will be kept safe and calm. These sessions allow participants to understand how a critical portion of crisis management would take place.”
The Kane County Sheriff’s Office was among the agencies on-hand, while Kane County Emergency management was on-site with its mobile command center to demonstrate how it could effectively help with an extended crisis situation at a reunification site.
During the simulations, attendees were familiarized with staging areas for families and media, how identification would be verified, where students and staff would be waiting, and how students would be confirmed and brought to their parent or guardian.
The Kane County Regional Office of Education began hosting these trainings in 2019 in response to the critical need for effective crisis management in educational settings. Since then, the number of participants has grown steadily.
This marked the first year that colleagues from Kane County school districts led the exercises, and some individual school districts will be holding additional sessions.
As more educators become familiar with the procedures, the goal is for districts to be able to help one another across all responsibilities and departments if one were to experience a crisis.
“This effort has grown organically, and we take pride in seeing how members of our school districts are taking ownership of this training,” Dal Santo said. “The districts we serve are working together to create a more wholistic approach to emergency preparedness. The Kane County Regional Office of Education remains committed to advancing these initiatives and supporting ongoing training opportunities for school districts and emergency responders across the region.”
More information about the I Love U Guys Foundation can be found at iloveuguys.org. For details regarding future reunification training opportunities, contact Phil Morris at pmorris@kaneroe.org.