I hope that your entire family is enjoying the winter holidays. There have been a few, not many, questions asked about the events of Wednesday November 17th. I thought I would clarify what happened and our response.
Shortly after 4:30, when school was scheduled to begin, a car struck an electrical pole causing an electrical failure in the neighboorhood of the school. The supervisor contacted any parent still in the building or in the parking lot and encouraged them to take their children home. Most children were able to leave. Some children were not.
Due to the lack of electricity there was no phone service in the building, the answering machine did not work, the computers did not work and some cell phones did not work. As this was a neighboorhood blackout there were no phones or electricity available at the Hellenic centre.
The emergency lights in the basement and throughout the building worked. They are, however equipped with batteries whose life span is thirty minutes.
At no time did the supervisory staff leave children unattended. Eventually all chidren were picked up or taken home by our staff.
We have evaluated our emergency procedures and believe that given all the circumstances and timing we acted in the best interests of the children. Sometimes "unforeseen circumstances" arise and our options are limited.
We will continue to provide a safe and secure situation for your children, our students, and will continue to evaluate our procedures.
Hopefully this will not happen again, but who knows what "other act of the Divine" will challenge us. I have every confidence that these events will be handeled as professionally as the events in November.
L'Shalom,
Rabbi G
