Primary Colors

Clara is the computer that calls me from my son's school. She's very helpful--most of the time. Sometimes she calls at 5 am to tell me that County-Schools-are-under-a-two-hour-weather-delay and other important pieces of information.

I'm always a little nervous when she calls because my caller id doesn't recognize Clara and just informs me that I'm receiving a phone call from a toll free number. I've been known to ignore Clara before, and I felt a little bad afterward.

Today Clara's call was intended to be reassuring, though I hardly found it to be so. I reluctantly answered the toll-free call this afternoon and Clara announced:

Your student's school has been placed in a Code Yellow alert. There is no cause for alarm. Thank you.

Well, now I'm alarmed Clara, thank you too. Could you possibly give me any further information, such as why are they under alert, and what the heck does Code Yellow mean anyway?

So I promptly located my student handbook and was reassured by the following:

It is necessary from time to time to lock and secure the campus to ensure the security of all staff and students. Our school will follow two procedures. In case of Code Yellow, students and staff should do the following:

1) Go into the classroom or nearest secure room and lock the door
2) Make sure that all exterior doors and windows are closed and locked.
3) Remain in the secure location until the all-clear announcement is given

Teachers and students are to continue with normal classroom activities and should not be alarmed during a Code Yellow. [Of course not, who would be alarmed in such a situation?] In case of a severe emergency, Code Red will be used to communicate the presence of an immediate threat to the school. [I suppose this is where you should become alarmed] In this procedure, students should report immediately to the nearest secure room and follow the directions of the staff member in charge.

So of course after reading the handbook, my mind was much eased and I remained unalarmed as instructed.

Having received no further enlightening phone calls from Clara, I assumed my child would arrive home with some more information. I picked him up at the bus stop and immediately checked his folder--no letter of explanation. I then tried casually to discuss the days events with my kindergartener.

So, anything exciting happen at school today?

No.

Did you have any kind of drill?

No.

Did they close the doors on your classroom?

They just made an announcement to lock our door, but we just stayed inside and had class.

Proper Code Yellow procedure I see. I'm sure glad Clara called, otherwise I would not have known not to become alarmed.