Benchmark – Adverse Situations

Background

It is mid-May in the air conditioning has gone out at a K-8 school, it is the middle of the

day and temperatures are increasing.

Management and Operational Systems

The main decisions to be made are how to ensure students and staff are safe as well as

whether to send students home or keep them for the remainder of the school day. Additional

information needed would be the busing availability, how many students are part of the after

school program, if students are bused home (especially the younger students) is there someone at

home to intercept them, and is the air conditioning being worked on in the meantime.

Human, Fiscal, and Technological Resources

If the decision to send students home is made, it is important for teachers to make sure

they are participating in bus and pick-up duty. The method of sending students home should

operate nearly identically to the end of day operations. Students who ride buses will wait in the

bus drop-off/pick up area, students who are picked up by their guardians will wait in the pick-up

area, and students who are part of the afterschool program will either need to be picked up by

their guardian, ride the bus home, or an alternative would be riding a bus to the local YMCA or

Boys and Girls Club which the school partners with for after school care. The bus will either be a

school bus or a bus provided by the YMCA or Boys and Girls Club. Additional resources in the

meantime while the all call goes out to guardians as well as waiting for the buses to show up

would be standing box fans, water for staff and students, cool towels and ice packs if available,

and shade structures.

Safety and Welfare of Students and Staff

The board policy is very broad in the language in regard to student and staff safety. The

policy states “the Board will seek to provide safe working conditions for all staff members and

will give prompt consideration to those conditions that may present a threat to the health and

safety of staff members” in this instance, increased temperature without air conditioning is a

threat to the safety of students and staff. State statute states: “each employer shall comply with

occupational safety and health standards and all regulations and orders issued pursuant to this

article” (A.R.S. 23-403). It could be deemed unsafe under the law for staff to work in conditions

which are too hot without the proper resources (i.e. air conditioning, water, shade).

Collaboration with Faculty and Community

Possible stakeholders involved in the decision-making process would be any other

members of leadership, the school nurse and other available medical professionals, police and

fire departments on the safety of the matter, and district leadership. Stakeholders affected by a

recommended solution would be guardians, bus drivers, the after-school program providers,

students, and staff.

Solution and Rationale

Potential solutions for addressing the situation would be sending students home, having

students stay for the remainder of the day with additional resources available such as fans and

water, or waiting for the air conditioning to be fixed and doing nothing. The best solution given

the information would be a coordinated early dismissal of all students and staff. First, bus

dispatch would need to be called and all guardians would need to be notified of the decision to

send students home on an early dismissal. Students who could not be picked up or the parent

would not feel comfortable with them going home to an empty home would need to contact the
school and request those students be sent to the YMCA or Boys and Girls Club with other

students who receive after school care. The YMCA or Boys and Girls Club would need to be

contacted at this time as well in order to ensure they have staff available to work with students

and transportation as well. Once buses arrive, students will be dismissed to pick-up like a typical

end of day dismissal. Teachers will be expected to complete their duties and then leave when

they are able and students have all been picked up. This all should be done as expeditious as

possible.

This solution is the best possible solution because it ensures the safety of students and

staff as well as is the most expeditious. There is no clear way of knowing when the air

conditioning would be fixed and with temperatures increasing, it would be irresponsible to keep

students and staff on campus, “keeping children safe is a concern that trumps academic

performance, financial accountability, targeted student services, or quality personnel” (DeLapp,

2014). There are young students who may not have a guardian at home so the added step of

contacting the Boys and Girls Club and YMCA helps to ensure those students are safe and taken

care of. Another solution could be to contact a neighboring school if the Boys and Girls Club or

YMCA are unavailable, but then the worry of space for those students comes up. This solution

also complies with the state laws and district policy as student and staff safety are of the utmost

importance. All stakeholders are also involved in the decision-making process.

 References

DeLapp, T. (2014). SCHOOL SAFETY PLANS Communicating during

crisis. Leadership, 43(5), 8–11.

RINALDI, R. (2017). Preparing for the Worst. American School & University, 89(6), 18–20.