Parents Talk: Discussing Emergency Situations at School

Last week, a situation at resulted in the campus being while school officials and assigned to the school as community resource officers, searched for something based on a student tip.

The (HSD) through Hazelwood West's electronic mail system sent out an email to parents after the situation was over that described what happened and how it was handled.

Hazelwood Patch emailed HSD's communication department regarding protocol for counseling and speaking with students after a situation as such, and Diana Gulotta, the district assistant superintendent for communications replied back saying there are two social workers on HSD payroll trained to handle crisis situations.

"As far as the issue last week, I don't have any further details to provide other than to say that we have seen no evidence that any of our students were in need of any counseling based on the lockdown," Gulotta said. "This is something that we are very sensitive to and we would provide counseling if necessary.

"We have two certified social workers, a mental health specialist and six on-site guidance counselors which could, if necessary, provide these services."

So parents, give some advice: As a parent, how do you discuss an incident as such with your child? Do you feel HSD handled the situation and communication about it properly?