On 9/11 what did DCPS do for parents who worked outside DC and had to get back into the city?

[Anonymous]

I work in Virginia and can only imagine how traffic would build but understand a plan would be necessary for getting to my children. Do schools keep the kids on lockdown until a parent or emergency contact arrives (ours works in Maryland)?

[Anonymous]

"Lockdown" wasn't a thing then. Nobody had plans for something like this because nobody had considered the possibility. Basically, schools had somebody who volunteered to stay with the kids.

Reading this brought back how chaotic that day was...

[Anonymous]

Uh, yes we did have lockdown.

[Anonymous]

Does each school have a plan now? I never thought to ask really - they have the shooter lockdowns but what about these?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does each school have a plan now? I never thought to ask really - they have the shooter lockdowns but what about these?

By “these” do you mean terrorist attacks?

[Anonymous]

Good time to bring this up with your particular school. You might be surprised what kind of “protocols” are/not in place - re: communications and building safety/security - and the role that the school, DCPS, MPD each play in guiding response (minimizing chaos).

[Anonymous]

There is no good administrator who would leave children unattended, no matter how long that meant staff had to stay at school. This was an incredibly rare event. It doesn't make sense for them to have a plan for EVERY single thing that could go wrong.

The kids would be kept safe at school.

In a lot of ways we have it much much better now because there is so much immediate information. In 2001 there was no texting or social media.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in Virginia and can only imagine how traffic would build but understand a plan would be necessary for getting to my children. Do schools keep the kids on lockdown until a parent or emergency contact arrives (ours works in Maryland)?

It's probably a good idea to think of an emergency contact who lives and works in the city.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, that was a horrible, horrible day. My oldest kid was in K at Peabody, and I had a 2 yo in a nursery school on Capitol Hill. When I got word what had happened, I turned around and grabbed my daughter at the nursery school (I had literally just dropped her off) and then swung back to Peabody to grab my son. The teachers had all the children out of the classrooms, and in the middle common area of the school (away from windows in classrooms) and were reading to them. I had been in touch with parents who worked out of the city, and grabbed as many kids as I could (I think it ended up being 6-7 kids) and took them home with me. It took me a really long time to get home (Lincoln Park) because of all the workers walking home. It was really hard to try to not let the little kids know how scary it was, and keep them occupied and oblivious while I was glued to the TV. Most of my friends got to my house to pick up their child by dinner time, but I know some teachers stayed at Peabody until all the kids could get picked up or went home with other friends in the same way I picked up other friends kids.

At that time, my husband was a HS principal in Montgomery County, and on 9/11 he sent his staff home, and he did not leave the building until ALL of his students got home safely. I think he waited until 5-6pm for some of his kids to get picked up. Unfortunately, by that time, he could not get back onto Capitol Hill, (police had blocked all streets into the city) and had to spend the night at his parents house, who conveniently lived near his high school. So all of this is to say, that educators are dedicated to their students, and would do anything for them, but it's good to remember that even before we had to plan for such horrific events, teachers will be there for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no good administrator who would leave children unattended, no matter how long that meant staff had to stay at school. This was an incredibly rare event. It doesn't make sense for them to have a plan for EVERY single thing that could go wrong.

The kids would be kept safe at school.

In a lot of ways we have it much much better now because there is so much immediate information. In 2001 there was no texting or social media.

That is true, but should we rely on that if we had another such emergency? We did have cell phones back on 9/11, and they were not helpful then because so many people were trying to call and find out what was happening. Maybe also because at least in NYC, certain cell towers went down? Nobody could get through. Could our data networks handle such a load emergency now? I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Dude nobody could get anywhere and cells didn’t have service basically. I think I sent my first text messages ever on 9/11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does each school have a plan now? I never thought to ask really - they have the shooter lockdowns but what about these?

What is the plan if a meteor hits? What is the plan if the killer bees finally get here? What if sharks grow legs and come onto land to attack? You should ask, PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, that was a horrible, horrible day. My oldest kid was in K at Peabody, and I had a 2 yo in a nursery school on Capitol Hill. When I got word what had happened, I turned around and grabbed my daughter at the nursery school (I had literally just dropped her off) and then swung back to Peabody to grab my son. The teachers had all the children out of the classrooms, and in the middle common area of the school (away from windows in classrooms) and were reading to them. I had been in touch with parents who worked out of the city, and grabbed as many kids as I could (I think it ended up being 6-7 kids) and took them home with me. It took me a really long time to get home (Lincoln Park) because of all the workers walking home. It was really hard to try to not let the little kids know how scary it was, and keep them occupied and oblivious while I was glued to the TV. Most of my friends got to my house to pick up their child by dinner time, but I know some teachers stayed at Peabody until all the kids could get picked up or went home with other friends in the same way I picked up other friends kids.

At that time, my husband was a HS principal in Montgomery County, and on 9/11 he sent his staff home, and he did not leave the building until ALL of his students got home safely. I think he waited until 5-6pm for some of his kids to get picked up. Unfortunately, by that time, he could not get back onto Capitol Hill, (police had blocked all streets into the city) and had to spend the night at his parents house, who conveniently lived near his high school. So all of this is to say, that educators are dedicated to their students, and would do anything for them, but it's good to remember that even before we had to plan for such horrific events, teachers will be there for our kids.

Thankful for people like you and your husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, that was a horrible, horrible day. My oldest kid was in K at Peabody, and I had a 2 yo in a nursery school on Capitol Hill. When I got word what had happened, I turned around and grabbed my daughter at the nursery school (I had literally just dropped her off) and then swung back to Peabody to grab my son. The teachers had all the children out of the classrooms, and in the middle common area of the school (away from windows in classrooms) and were reading to them. I had been in touch with parents who worked out of the city, and grabbed as many kids as I could (I think it ended up being 6-7 kids) and took them home with me. It took me a really long time to get home (Lincoln Park) because of all the workers walking home. It was really hard to try to not let the little kids know how scary it was, and keep them occupied and oblivious while I was glued to the TV. Most of my friends got to my house to pick up their child by dinner time, but I know some teachers stayed at Peabody until all the kids could get picked up or went home with other friends in the same way I picked up other friends kids.

At that time, my husband was a HS principal in Montgomery County, and on 9/11 he sent his staff home, and he did not leave the building until ALL of his students got home safely. I think he waited until 5-6pm for some of his kids to get picked up. Unfortunately, by that time, he could not get back onto Capitol Hill, (police had blocked all streets into the city) and had to spend the night at his parents house, who conveniently lived near his high school. So all of this is to say, that educators are dedicated to their students, and would do anything for them, but it's good to remember that even before we had to plan for such horrific events, teachers will be there for our kids.

And not just educators--good school system employees. Look at the recent fires in Paradise, CA when the bus drivers came back for those kids and the bus drivers, teachers, and staff made sure every single kid got out alive.

[Anonymous]

Please remember that there were DCPS children and teachers killed on 9/11. That is still one of the most heartbreaking part of it all.

Carry on.