Each month, all elementary schools throughout Utah do an emergency drill. This month, Armstrong will participate in the Great Utah Shakeout by having an earthquake drill on April 17th. We’ll have instructions on earthquake procedures on ABC News next Monday.
The Great Utah Shakeout is a great opportunity for everyone in the state to practice how they should respond in an emergency situation and not just the students in school. Visit shakeout.org/utah to find great resources on family or neighborhood planning and to sign up to participate in the Great Utah Shakeout. Make arrangements with your family for multiple contingency plans to meet up or communicate. In such a situation, the staff at Armstrong will be on deck caring for the safety of all students and getting them back to their families as quickly as possible.
Also, this is a very appropriate time for me to request and encourage parents to take the responsibility to make sure that Armstrong has multiple, current contact phone numbers for each student’s parents/guardian or other emergency contact. True, it’s difficult to know what channels of communication will be available in a serious disaster like an earthquake. However, less serious emergencies happen regularly, and they’re resolved in a much easier way when we can easily get ahold of parents. I’d also recommend that one emergency contact for each student listed on the registration card be some person who lives out of state. If an earthquake happens in Salt Lake, we may be able to phone out of state before we’re able to phone within the city limits.
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