Articles, guides, and Just Chatting episodes covering every aspect of school reunification — built to be bookmarked, shared, and put to use.
If the messaging is wrong, a reunification can be run well and still feel like a disaster to families. The plan on paper accounts for students, verifies IDs, and releases children to authorized adults in an orderly way. But the parent reading their phone in a car doesn’t see the plan. They see whatever you … Read more
You planned the drill for weeks. Every team member knew their station. The supplies were staged, the site was set, and the roles were assigned. Then the exercise started, and within minutes, something felt off. Families at the site were hearing one thing from one staff member and something different from another. A supervisor was … Read more
Most school districts have a reunification plan. Far fewer have ever worked through what it actually asks of their people. That gap is not a failure of effort. Reunification planning competes with a hundred other priorities, and the resources that exist tend to assume a district already has a consultant, a budget line, or a … Read more
Most school districts have a reunification plan on file. Fewer have a planning team that knows it. Fewer still have a team that has practiced it. And very few have ever stood at an actual reunification site, run families through the process, and documented what happened. Genuine reunification readiness is not a document. It is … Read more
Most school emergency plans mention a reunification kit. Far fewer describe what should actually be in one, why each item matters, or what happens when a team arrives at the reunification site and discovers critical materials were left behind. This post walks through what belongs in a school reunification kit, organized by function. Use it … Read more
The school most likely to need a reunification is the one least able to run it. That single reality changes everything about how reunification should be planned, trained, and executed. Every school emergency plan should include a reunification section. Most of them assume, at least implicitly, that the school’s own staff will run the process. … Read more
On the journey of school preparedness, laying a strong foundation is just the beginning. Our previous article, “Crawling Towards Competence,” explored the essential “Crawl Phase” of the Reunification Foundation’s methodology, where schools establish comprehensive plans, initially train their teams, and gather supplies. Much like a child first learning to sit and then to move, the … Read more
The Crawl Phase is the initial step in the Reunification Foundation’s training methodology. During this phase, schools establish a foundation for their reunification capabilities by concentrating on vital elements such as planning, team training, and resource acquisition. A key objective of the Crawl Phase is to develop a comprehensive reunification plan. This involves bringing together … Read more
Effective school safety relies on robust and adaptable reunification plans. To achieve this, the Reunification Foundation has developed a dynamic training methodology that builds on the traditional “Crawl, Walk, Run” model. This enhanced approach, known as “Crawl, Walk, Run, Refresh,” transforms the linear progression of skill development into a continuous cycle of improvement, ensuring sustained … Read more
The history of school safety is marked by a series of evolving concerns and responses, shaped by societal events and a growing understanding of the need to protect students and staff. While early school safety measures focused primarily on fire safety, the scope has significantly expanded to include many potential threats. In the early years … Read more
Developing a training program that prepares you and your team to respond when something occurs is vital to ensure your organization is ready for unexpected events. To effectively prepare for an event, there is a process you can follow that will help you come up with a plan. Program Evolution A complete training program will … Read more
One of the most common questions that come up when speaking to schools and other organizations about reunification is, “What do we do when XYZ occurs?” or “Can we do that?” In response, we usually look at them, put our hands up, and shrug. That’s because we can guide you towards a best practice, but … Read more
Reunification is an all-hazards tool that can and should be used anytime it is no longer safe to remain on school grounds. Practicing the process often will ensure that staff, students, and the community know what it entails when you pick up a student from any location where they are under the care and supervision … Read more