Late last night a fire broke out at the prison here in Comayagua. The prison is about 500 yards away from us. I didn't hear about it until early this morning, right before our devotionals. At the time, the death toll was estimated at about 275. Right now, it's looking like 350, with projections saying the death toll will top 400.
What was supposed to be our first day of school, a day of celebration, ending up being anything but. We did start the school day as planned. I got some great pictures of our first assembly with the first through twelfth graders. However, within an hour of our first assembly, the school was on lock down.
Almost immediately after parents dropped off their children for school, we started getting phone calls from parents concerned about their children's safety. We assured them, as best we could, that their kids were safe and that we were not letting anyone on the grounds who did not belong here.
As the kids started going to recess, we told them that they all needed to be IN the Center, not out on the courts or on the playground equipment. Parents were very concerned about the reports of prisoners who had escaped during the fire. We were vigilant with their kids.
Then the parents started arriving to pick up their children. We had a system in place that greatly aided us in avoiding utter chaos. The parents needed to wait at the front gate, and the teachers there filled out a form with the name and grade of the students. Another teacher would come to the cafeteria (the Center) to get the children and then walk them to their classroom to pick up their backpack or any personal material, and finally, the teacher delivered the children, personally, to their parents. No children were permitted to be anywhere on the property without a teacher escort.
School was scheduled to end at 12 noon today anyway, so we had about 2 1/2 hours of this. Because of our proximity to the prison, and in order to really protect our kids, school is cancelled for tomorrow and Friday.
Look for more posts to follow, including some pictures I took from the second floor of one of our buildings.
Susan,
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to you and all the families involved. It is such a wonderful testimony to the care and detail you all have in running the school. What a blessing that you were all so prepared to run things in a way that protected each child. I am praying for you all.