If a school fails to plan, then it is planning to fail.

I strongly believe simulating a real event is necessary to polish our safety procedures and to prepare in case of a real emergency.  Don’t get me wrong, I wish we did not have to have these drills; but, unfortunately, this is where we find ourselves in today’s day and age. Furthermore, safety comes first here at CCS.

As your school principal, I work with our School Board and Church Administration to assess the threats and hazards most likely to impact our school, and do everything in my power to help our students be successful and safe in the event a hazard does occur.

We have at least one drill per month, including during our Summer Blast Program.

Our drills must practice three basic functional threat responses:

1. Drop, cover, and hold (earthquake)- Drop where you are, onto your hands and knees. Cover your neck and head with one arm and hand. Hold on until shaking stops.
2. Lock Down – to isolate students and staff from threats of violence, such as suspicious trespassers or armed intruders, that may occur in a school or in the vicinity of a school.
3. Fire Drill (Evacuation) – to move students and staff away from threats, such as fires, oil train spills, etc.

Preparing for these events, which we hope never occur, is not easy, but it is essential. It does remind me of the Scriptures in Matthew 7:24-27.  Where Jesus says

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

When Jesus spoke those words, the rain and wind had not come yet. My highest desire is for CCS to be the school that was built on the rock, so when and if the rains and winds come, we are prepared as best we can.