I am writing to express my disappointment in the East Williston school administration for their handling of the Nov. 21, 2011 bus accident.
A year ago we stopped hearing from Lou Theodore. The point of his editorials was to address the lack of information shared with the residents of this district. Unfortunately, on Nov. 21 his theory was proved correct.
It’s disappointing the district wasn’t properly prepared to deal with the accident. Dr. Lewis summoned for another bus to take the children to school after the accident. She wasn’t informed of New York State Protocol which states students need to be medically evaluated after an accident. How the superintendent isn’t aware of this law is shocking.
Mr. Bloomgarden sent a letter to parents stating when he arrived on the scene he had “the main office at North Side begin to contact all the parents of the children who were on the bus.”
This was unacceptable since he arrived on the scene by 9:15, or earlier, and some parents were not contacted until nearly 11. It’s inconceivable it took an hour and a half to contact 13 families.
Even more disturbing is when parents confronted school officials they stated the building only had four phone lines. In this world of technology and hyper-connectedness why didn’t school aides contact parents using cell phones? It’s disturbing there isn’t a protocol in place for such incidents.
Considering this accident involved young students, it would be reasonable that some type of crisis intervention would’ve been given to all the children of the school. The administration should realize not only did this impact the children on the bus but also those who were not on the bus. I hope this incident brings about change in how the school district handles an emergency situation. Shame on you, East Williston School District.
Victoria Hagemann
East Williston
School District resident
