SPECIAL REPORT
A New Way of Conducting Evacuation
Drills School districts share how the pandemic has forced a new methodology for preparing students in the event of an emergency
Written by Taylor Hannon
taylor@stnonline.com
Teachers Alexis Wiltgen and Cailey Schlenker help student Brynn Brandhorst evacuate the school bus during a Bondurant-Farrar Community School District evacuation drill in October 2020.
A
t the onset of COVID-19, transportation leaders had to find creative ways to keep their staff and students trained in a myriad of topics, despite virtual learning nationwide. Ensuring proper
distancing between students and limiting exposure time during emergency evacuation drills has remained a priority. One Iowa school district figured out how to dissemi-
nate information to both students and school bus drivers in a creative and informative way. Bondurant-Farrar Community School District, located just outside of Des Moines, used a home-made training video to solve many of the district’s original evacuation challenges, while also attempting to reach all students amid the pandemic. Mary Jo Hetrick, transportation director for the district, said her staff usually divides the entire student body into
20 School Transportation News • MAY 2021
three groups. Transportation officials then take 15 to 20 minutes going over the features of one particular school bus. However, she noted that the types of roof hatches and windows can vary from bus to bus, based on the type and manufacturer. The decision was made to famil- iarize students with all of the district’s buses. When the district returned students to class via a
hybrid model in August and with COVID-19 mitiga- tion strategies in place, Hetrick brainstormed ways to cut back on the amount of time students were in close proximity while performing the evacuation drills. Her department created a training video that is now shown prior to hands-on exercises, to reduce each student’s time on board by 10 minutes. The video covers every kind of roof hatch, so the
students will be always be trained on proper and safe evacuation. “The video is a more effective tool for us since
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