December 13, 2006

On Wednesday, November 29, 2006, the Cape Elizabeth schools were faced with a threat to our students and staff that led us to evacuate all of our buildings to previously selected sites. Due to the work of many school personnel over the past two years and the consistent review and revision, we were ready to make the decisions that needed to be made and to move ahead quickly. Although the entire process has truly tested our skills, we were able to manage the process with no incidents.

With no large buildings to house our students away from their school setting, we were most fortunate to have previously prepared plans with the neighboring City of South Portland. On behalf of the entire community, our sincere thanks to Wendy Houlihan, the Superintendent of South Portland Schools, for providing two of the schools' evacuation points and also providing South Portland School bus services to supplement our own to move students safely and quickly. Our sincere thanks to Jeanne Crocker, the Principal at South Portland High School, and Megan Welter, the Principal at Memorial Middle School, for providing space in their schools for our own high school and middle school students. The staff and students at both schools were very helpful and supportive. Our special thanks also to Martha Spencer, the director of the South Portland School Nutrition program, for ensuring that our students received lunches, and to Ron Deegan, the South Portland Transportation Director, who provided bus support. The support from South Portland truly made this unfortunate process possible. A very special thank you to St. Bartholemew's Church, particularly to Monsignor Michael Henchal and his staff, for making the church's facility available for our Pond Cove students.

The work of our own staff must also be noted. Our principals, assistant principals, Community Services Director Sue Weatherbie, Business Manager Pauline Aportria, Facilities Director Ernie MacVane and Custodial Supervisor David Raymond worked closely with Police Chief Neil Williams, Police Capt. Brent Sinclair, and Fire Chief Phil McGouldrick to coordinate the actual evacuation. State and local police, along with search dogs, thoroughly inspected each building. The staff at all three schools was there to support students in a calm, safe manner throughout, and our students performed admirably. Our thanks to the custodial, maintenance, and food services crew for their help, including the cleaning of St. Bart's Church after our students left. Our secretarial staff, including the staff at the Community Center and in Town Hall, handled all of the telephone calls throughout the process.

What did we learn? First, that the possibility of evacuating students does work and that we had careful monitoring within and outside of the buildings. Second, that communications is always extremely important and that we needed to and are strengthening our communications plan. Third, the disruption and added expenses caused by this event is inexcusable.

My thanks to everyone who helped us during this event.

ALAN H. HAWKINS

Superintendent of Schools

320 Ocean House Road

Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107