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District and Goodyear emergency staff run large reunification exercise; agencies praise interagency planning
Summary
Agua Fria staff and Goodyear emergency services staged a reunification drill Oct. 1 involving multiple schools and simulated parents and students; city emergency manager said planning took nearly six months and commended district preparedness
Agua Fria Union High School District staff and Goodyear emergency personnel briefed the governing board Oct. 1 on a large reunification exercise held that morning and on broader West Valley safety coordination.
Theresa (speaker identified as district safety lead) told the board the district hosted the West Valley School Safety Preparedness Consortium on Sept. 24 and that the Oct. 1 reunification exercise in Goodyear incorporated many partner agencies. "We had members from all of our school sites come to work different roles. Today, we had fictional parents and fictional students. We did have some parents real parents come, and we had some real students," she said, describing injected scenarios such as students taken to hospitals and parents who could not find their children.
Brian Wood, Goodyear’s emergency manager, told the board the exercise was the product of about six months of planning with the city’s fire and police departments and district staff. "I'm very appreciative from the city's perspective on how proactive this district and your schools are when it comes to student safety and building resiliency at your campuses," Wood said.
District staff said the exercise also included discussion of the state School Safety Program (SSP) grant cycle and legislative changes to school-safety requirements. Staff said the exercise aimed to standardize language and roles across schools and municipal partners to improve coordination in the event of an actual emergency.
Superintendent Islas and board members thanked staff and municipal partners for the realistic drill and for involving parents and students in the exercise.
Ending — District and city officials said they will continue joint planning and will incorporate lessons from the exercise into future training and grant-seeking efforts.
