Fire at Bayside

[Eremda]

Remove****

[karen]

call the school

[Tara]

Ok...you hear that there might be a fire at your children's school and you casually post about it on isaintjohn? Shouldn't you be calling the school?

[Dan_Man]

This is how rumors start :P

[karen]

not just rumors, but things seem to get exagerated along the way, that's why I said call the school

[Eremda]

Kids just called. They are home. Fire was small one in the boiler room I guess. Buses were still there so they sat on the buses for two hours while they determined whether or not to send them home. If there had been an emergency the buses would have been able to evacuate them quickly. Kids had a most exciting morning and the rest of the day off school.

[karen]

Glad to hear your kids are safe!

[Woofer]

it was started by a welder in the basement.

[Pumpkin]

Actually, the teachers or someone they appointed should be in charge of calling the parents at home/work, ect to let them know that the children are ok and being sent home.... Not everyone hears about this stuff, so they need to call to let them know!!!!!!!

What if a parent only heard the school had burnt down or had a small fire, whatever the case could be... at 4:15 on their way home from work? they can't call the school then, no one is there.

My daughters school, appoints a parent or 2 in each class to have a list of the parents children and phone numbers in case of any type of emergency or school closure due to bad weather or fires, ect.... it is that person(s) responsibility to call and notify the parent or guardian!

[Marigold]

I'm on the PSSC at Bayside and we do have an Emergency procedure in place. I'm not sure if it was followed or not, my son got picked up by my mom, who is the emergency contact and phoned me at work after. I didn't think to ask her if she got a call from the school, or if my son called her directly. I'll ask the school for clarification on how everything unfolded and post back here, hopefully by tomorrow.

[Woofer]

we never recieved a call from the school either.

[mickey]

A friend of mine son goes there. When he arrived at the babysitter door step un announced he told her that there was a fire that they had to stand outside for 45 min's before a bus came, and then they had to sit on the bus for 2 hour, until they decided to send the kid's home. He was lucky his babysitter was home.
45 min's standing outside without a coat on is way too long for anybody let alone a kid

[Eremda]

My kids brought home one of their friends who had no place to go as Mom was working. Apparently this kid did not have a key to his house. No parents are home at my house either all day. So all the kids were alone. That's OK for mine, but to have some one elses there all day without supervision worried me. I checked in with them frequently and made sure that this kid called his mom and told her where he was and also that there were no parents home all day as I work until 5:00.

No I did not receive any phone calls nor did the emergency contacts.

My son said they didn't mind sitting on the bus for 2 hours and the worst part was he had to pee the entire time. Makes my bladder hurt just to think about it.

I agree that maybe a better plan for emergencies can come from this.

[Marigold]

After speaking to my son a few minutes ago, I will definitely be calling the school tomorrow- My mom did actually get a phone call from the school, but she told them to just let him walk home (he's a walking student) and she'd pick him up at home. What they neglected to tell my mother is that they didn't give the kids a chance to grab their coats, so my son walked home with no jacket. It's still pretty cold out to be walking home in a t-shirt (especially since it's a 20 minute walk). I'm not impressed, especially since the pssc spent a ton of time on the plan! Plus, now he doesn't have his jacket to walk to school in the morning!

The voice mail thing is whole other issue. If you are a Rogers customer, you are out of luck as far as getting any messages from the school.

[Tara]

You can't get messages if you're a rogers customer??? My son starts school in September so I'll have to switch by then if that's the case

[Marigold]

I know at Bayside it's something they're still looking into. You should confirm with your own school though.

[Eremda]

Two messages were on my home phone when I got home from work. By that time the situation was all over. Perhaps the emergency contact number could be put on the system to receive messages in another instance like todays. This still doesn't solve the problems for us working parents or those who don't check their voice messages. There is probably no simple way to alert everyone to their satisfaction.

My kids were outside for quite a while without their jackets, but were allowed back in to gather their belongings before heading home. Better safe than sorry in this instance. I'm sure if it had been dead of winter they would have not let anyone freeze.

In my case I knew about the fire from my mother who has a scanner and called me at work. I knew she was monitoring the situation and would have alerted me if it became serious.

I would be most interested to know if the emergency plan was followed. I feel fairly confident that the situation was handled to the best of the teachers and principal's ability to make quick decisions. Remember we are not dealing with kindergarten kids but kids ages 11-14. Our best defense is to talk over with our kids what happened and what to do next time. Prepare them.

[ker]

My daughter goes to bayside and i ahd my first message at 10:00 this morning telling me all about the fire and letting me know she was coming home i also got another letting me know that all the students were sent home and an update on the fire as well..

[dmbeyea]

IT true that if you have Rogers for a phone you will not get any voice mails from the school becuase the schools use Aliant to send out their vocie mails to all students. They still havent figured out a way to send them to Rogers customers yet.

[habsfan10]

My son goes to Bayside as well, and I received my message around 9:30 am and my son was walking through the door at 11:30 am and I live in red head. As long as your child was safe and not harmed, I think the school had alot on their plates. Stop and think that they have over 700 kids to deal with . I think they did fine. Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill, they all were safe. I believe that kids starting grade 6 should be responsible enough to carry a house key in case of emergencies such as this.

[Woofer]

the school didnt evacuate the kids till the firetrucks showed up the radio says. whats up with that? also quote the firemen are upset with tthe school and schoolboard for the way it was handled. listen to the radio and see what they are saying *K-100*

[Pumpkin]

One of the kids from there told me this morning that they had to stand outside for 45 minutes with no coats on and then we put on buses for don't quote me on this but an hour or more i thought she said.

Anyways, maybe something some of you Bayside parents should bring up is that a list of contact names and emergency numbers ect for the kids in each home room, should be given to one parent...and incase of an emergency such as what happened yesterday or God forbid something worse, that one person would need to be notified by each teacher, and then that parent could contact the other concerned or unknowing parents!!! It is a good plan to have really.

[Eremda]

According to the paper this morning the welders who started the fire called 911 and then left the school, never alerting the teachers, principal or students by pulling the fire alarm. I guess they heard the morning bell and assumed that this was the fire alarm.

I know that when my mom called me she repeated what she overheard on the scanner and that was the fire dept. saying "get those kids out of the building"

These are not kindergarten kids. Before we go around blasting the school, we need to remember these are not kindergarten kids, but kids old enough to use cell phones and baby-sit. They should be responsible enough to remove themselves from danger on their own.

My only hope is that the school uses this situation to tweak their emergency plan and learn from their mistakes.

I would not have wanted to be in charge of 700 excited teen agers, two are all I can handle most times.

[Dreamweaver]

The whole thing as far as I can see was a disaster in the making. What the heck were the welders thinking? Was there not anyone around in their rush out the door? Did they not pass a classroom, or a teacher? They called 911 and ran from the building? I wouldn't trust them in my kids school with a book of matches, let along blow torches....sheeeessshhhh!

Now the evacuation was a whole other matter. Is there not a safe spot (not busses) that these kids should have been taken to? I know at my kids school, they go to "safe" location and efforts to call home are made there.

One good thing is that no one was hurt. That's most important. But someone easily could have been.

[amethyst]

For starters,, why the HECK were they WELDING during school hours anyway.. That right there is a NO-NO .

My kids don't go to Bayside BUT both schools have the EMO plans..And when I had one in Simonds Middle we had the EMO (emergency measures operation) In place--and was updated constantly,.... wiht contact numbers for parents/and guardians..
I was On this and I know.. It was and IS a very very important part of this city.. The students do have a location to be evacuated to...Parents are told WHERE the students were being moved too and Contact Name for Person who was responsible for the certain grades/HR classes..These people are parents too. That leave work, home and private responsiblitites to make sure these students have reassurance that the situation will not harm them..and the parents Minds' are halfway at ease, knowing Mr or Mrs.such & such has just called & not to worry.they will be or are with the students. I know some of the teachers from Simonds Middle now do work at Bayside, and I am sure they have the plan in motion, Maybe contact the PSSC or the Home & school, Principal or Vp's--all of these teachers/admin are in charge of this "Plan". Along with parents to help enforce it. But remember that as PARENTS we have to make sure that someone is available no matter HOW old these kids are...These Operations are for Fire, bomb scares, spills, leaks, anything to do with the refineries, local accidents anything that could possibly put them in harms way. They need a different location for safety, and you should Know where it is,, Not ON the BUS....for 2 hrs or your child calling from their cell phone..Local radio stations should be on top of this BEYOND all other news.. all stations..every few minutes, same goes for the TV... but In & make it KNOWN... anyway thats my opinion.. ALL schools have the EMO.. call and check it OUT..Make sure your contact info is current.. Volunteer to be a contact person,, You get the list and call the parents/guardians yourself... It's Not hard work..not enough parents get involved with the schools as it is,, same goes for the HOT LUNCH thread.. go volunteer for it,.. They don't get healthy meals because no one has the time to do it......

you forgot something..http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/Amethyst34/moties/sb.gif