Ready, Set, Plan!
It’s easy to think you’re prepared until you’re tested, which is true outside of the classroom as well. The ice storm last month was a good test for Cedarwood of our emergency preparedness. We had reliable weather forecasts ahead of time, so we had enough time to confirm our policies and practices (such as decision-making and communication responsibilities). We follow Portland Public Schools' decision-making on school closure, so it was a matter of minutes for Amber Clayton, our Interim Chief Administrative Officer to confirm and communicate the decision with Cedarwood’s inclement weather team. Jeremy Smith, our Facilities Director, kept a close eye on the school in case he needed to respond to any emergencies. Jeremy and Amber made communication updates via our emergency alert system and to local flash alert networks for inclusion in the local news. The school never lost power or heat, and the physical structure didn’t suffer any ill effects from the storm.
Cedarwood has a long history of emergency preparedness. We have an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), which includes response plans for a variety of types of emergencies. We do monthly drills, including fire drills, lockdown drills, and earthquake drills. Last week’s fire drill had the entire school vacated within two minutes and eighteen seconds! Not our personal best, but solidly under the three-minute goal. All employees are First Aid/CPR certified and administrative staff have basic training in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Incident Command System (ICS), which allows them to better interface with local emergency response if and when they’re called to campus. Neighborhood House and the Annex, the two primary attached buildings that make up Cedarwood Waldorf School, have been seismically upgraded; Neighborhood House in 2006 and The Annex in 2011. Each classroom has emergency supplies for students and there are stockpiles of supplies for the school as a whole. Cedarwood also partners with the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management to host a Basic Earthquake Emergency Communication Node (BEECN), which will provide emergency communications in case of an earthquake. We have mutual aid agreements with local businesses that are willing to allow us to use their space, should we need an alternative location for student pickup.
The ice storm is an opportunity to assess your own emergency preparedness at home (see this article for examples of other people rethinking their approach). If you have camping gear, winter clothes, and stored water, that’s a great start! Assessing your home and making a plan can feel overwhelming, but it’s also a way to break down the work into manageable tasks. Part of being prepared at home includes talking with your kids about emergencies. We want our kids to feel confident that we’re going to do the best we can to keep them safe. If you feel confident in your own emergency preparedness, you can start checking in on your neighbors about theirs.. Your workplace may also have emergency planning or preparedness activities that you can learn about and learn from, and you can take classes or volunteer in your neighborhood community.
If you’d like to participate in Cedarwood’s emergency preparedness, there are a number of ways you can do that.
Attend Cedarwood’s Safety and Emergency Committee, held remotely at 10 am the first Monday of each month throughout the school year. Ask Jeremy Smith, our Facilities Director, to add you to the email distribution list.
Volunteer to be your classroom safety coordinator, which will help make sure that the classroom kits are stocked and refreshed as needed. Checklists provided! Email Luke Mohlman, Cedarwood Safety and Emergency Committee Chair, to volunteer.
Donate supplies to Cedarwood through our Amazon wish list of supplies.
One of the most important things you can do for Cedarwood is make sure that your contact and authorized pickup information is up to date. You can go into TADS or Educate to update this information. We keep updated paper copies in the front office and in each classroom so that it’s available to us in case the internet or power goes out. Part of our emergency planning work is figuring out where and when we need backups and redundancies. If Plan A goes sideways, we’ve got Plan B in place.
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