Frost Middle School - What Was Dr. Jones Thinking?

Remember last Wednesday, May 26, 2010, when the temperature reached over 90 degrees?


Its a day that many Frost Middle School students will remember too.

According to a letter sent home to parents by Joey Jones, the school principal since 2002, the school received a bomb threat at 11 am, evacuated the students to the nearby athletic fields, and reentered the building at 1:35 pm.  Students were left outside, because officials in charge thought there was not enough time to walk to the designated shelter-in-place location, Wootton High School.



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For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of the Wootton Schools, the two schools are adjacent to each other.  And its all downhill from Frost to Wootton, as any family with a sled can tell you - its a great place to hang out when schools are closed due to snow.  Frost MS's established emergency evacuation plan, as shared with parents and the community, has Frost MS students evacuating to Wootton HS.


But not this time. 

For some reason, the students and staff were kept outside and not sent over to Wootton.

For some other unknown reason, the kids were left on the fields without access to water or bathrooms.   Twenty four students were treated for dehydration - two percent of the student population, not an insignificant number.


Maybe Dr. Jones has never walked between the two schools. 


Parents want to know.  Why were the students kept out in the heat, with no water, for over 2 hours? 

Someone in charge of the plan needs to rethink the plan, or else someone in charge of the plan needs to be replaced.   I'd suggest both.

And given the proximity of Frost and Wootton, and the conveniently located Giant where many Wootton families shop, other schools may want to examine their emergency evacuation plans too.

After all, if a school as green and as flush with resources both in physical and financial assets can't safely evacuate its premises, what guarantees do we have that other school emergency plans in Montgomery County Maryland public schools have plans that work when needed?

Weather May 26 2010