HILLSBORO, Ore. (KOIN) — The Hillsboro School District is getting prepared for emergencies in light of the dozens of school shootings that have occurred around the country and in Oregon.
Hillsboro schools and law enforcement held a training drill at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro Friday for student re-unification. The drill is a lesson for parents to pick up their children after an emergency.
Hundreds of Hillsboro Police, fire, school district and parent volunteers showed up to role play how to get back together in the event of a shooting or explosion at school. They want people to be able to remain calm and follow protocol in these emergencies.
The process is more involved than kids just running to their parents. Police have to navigate family dynamics, custody issues and ultimately make sure every child is accounted for.
“Let’s say we have parents who show up and grab their children and the kids are safe and the kids go home, but we don’t know that. They may not be in injured or at a hospital but they may have skipped school that day and nobody knows it,” said Lt. Mike Rouches of Hillsboro Police.
“I’m sure event though we’ve had training, I’d be like ‘where is my child’ but we want to keep the chaos to a minimum,” said parent volunteer Angie Broswold.
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