Dear Hawley Families, 

We have been asked by Dr. Eradi, to help find volunteers for the upcoming Reunification exercise. We have been provided with the following information to explain the reunification exercise and what the volunteer role would be.

Dear Parents/Guardians:

On  Wednesday, November 16, 2016, between the hours of  9:45 am - 11:45 am, the Newtown Public Schools, in conjunction with Newtown High School (NHS), the Newtown Police Department, the Newtown Youth Academy (NYA) and All-Star Transportation, will conduct a controlled-practical emergency response exercise pertaining to parent-student reunification procedures. NHS administration will select, with parent/guardian approval, 50 student volunteers to serve as the representative sample in testing the timeliness of our reunification procedures. These students, along with participating staff, will be bused to the NYA facility on the Fairfield Hills Campus.      

Reunification Overview

The district's reunification procedures are activated when events at a Newtown Public School or in the adjacent neighborhood necessitate that students be physically returned to parents outside routine student dismissal practices and school location. Reunification is the difference between daily school release (routine dismissal practices) and controlled release (reunification). The core concept behind our reunification procedures is accountability, which will be achieved through a process based on managing the physical location of students, staff, and the retrieving parents and guardians. Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure a seamless transition for students and staff from the initial evacuation staging area to the relocation site.

It is the goal of the Newtown Public Schools to provide a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff, parents, guardians, and visitors as is feasible. To ensure this in the reunification setting, we have established procedures that will safe guard the reunification location and appropriately identify parents or guardians that have the legal right to take custody of a student. We will utilize best practices and available technology to safely and swiftly reunite students with their parents or guardians.    

Request for Parent Volunteers

To assist the district and our stakeholders in assessing the quality of our reunification procedures, we are seeking the assistance of 4 parent volunteers from Hawley to serve as the "parents/guardians" of the NHS student volunteers. The participating parent volunteers will be summoned to NYA and will walk-through the reunification procedure with staff and students. It is our goal that each parent-student reunification takes no more than 30-45 seconds to accomplish.  

If you are interested in volunteering for this worthwhile emergency response exercise, please email  [email protected].