ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A reunification exercise took place Wednesday at East River High School.
It comes after last year’s active shooter training with Orange County Public Schools.
“Our classes are all like grouped together and we are all put in our section, so we are together, and the teachers know where we are,” Mia Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, 16, is a junior at East River High School and volunteered to do Wednesday’s exercise.
She said she was not nervous but said this is something everyone should practice.
“Most of us have been in the gym at least once, so it’s somewhere we are comfortable, and we are also sitting down and we are not moving from place to place,” Rodriguez explained.
Volunteers, who acted like students, were dropped off by buses then were transferred inside the school.
The process took time as volunteers, who acted as parents, checked-in with staff and presented an I.D. in order to “pick up” their children.
Parents then were taken to a reunification area where they reunited with students.
The exercise also provides OCPS and emergency responders the opportunity to evaluate emergency operations plan and improve their response abilities.
OCPS officials though said communication is key when it comes to emergency situations at schools.
“We need to let parents tune in to what the district messaging is, what we are saying, on social media, through voice calls, through text messages,” said Scott Howat, OCPS chief communications officer.
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