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District describes large Camp Ripley evacuation drill; officials report near-complete accounting
Summary
District staff described a large evacuation and reunification drill that moved students to Camp Ripley, reporting near-complete accounting in final roster events and recommending refinements to bus logistics and reunification planning.
Mark Deal, who led operations and emergency planning discussion, described a district evacuation drill that moved high school students to Camp Ripley with three roster events and a focus on communication, count/accountability, and relocation. He said practice roster events improved from about 38% accounting in an early practice to 99.97% by the final rehearsal before the full event. The final roster run at the park completed in about five minutes.
Mark credited partnerships with Camp Ripley, the Little Falls Police Department, the Little Falls Fire Department, Morrison County Sheriff's Office, Morrison County Health and Human Services, local bus companies and neighboring districts for planning and execution. He said students took bus tours of Camp Ripley and its military museum after roster events and that district office staff worked through reunification procedures with principals and lead secretaries.
Board members pressed on whether the exercise would translate to an unannounced real event; Mark said the district is building muscle memory through required drills (five fire drills and five lockdown drills per year) and plans to run a school out-to-camp exercise on an annual rotation while adding unpredictable elements and refining bus cycles and reunification locations.
No formal policy change was adopted at the meeting; the board heard the after-action report and praised staff for planning and interagency coordination.
