P.E.I. school evacuation highlights need for more training for teachers

The head of the P.E.I. Teachers' Federation says it may be time to look at giving teachers more training to deal with emergency situations.

All P.E.I. schools were evacuated Wednesday when a threat was faxed toRCMPin Ottawa. The threat was later determined to be not credible.

• Mass P.E.I. school evacuation reveals some flaws in plans

• P.E.I. teachers not required to sweep schools after threat

"In the day and age we live in, it might be a necessary part of teacher training, right?"said president Bethany MacLeod.

"Even a course we could put on from PEITF or something, because you know, we're dealing with a lot more issues than we used to deal with for sure."

"It was a very difficult day for teachers and it was a lot stress but I'm very proud to say that I represent an amazing group,"

"It's almost surreal to be put into a situation like this."

Despite concerns over what happened Wednesday, MacLeod said teachers were confident it was safe to return.

"We're going to stand behind the RCMP, if they deemed it was safe to return," she said.

Help for students and teachers

The public schools branch has said there will be counsellors in the schools Thursday to help people dealing with any lingering anxiety over Wednesday's events.

"I assume that the counsellors will be there for the teachers as well and I'm hoping that administrators will have a debriefing session for the staff because that's an important part of it," said MacLeod.

"The teachers' responsibility yesterday, and the school staff, was to have the students taken to a safe zone," said MacLeod.

"They were not required to go and sweep the schools at all, which is what unfortunately sometimes people were led to believe It's a scary thought. Teachers are not trained in that, of course, and you wouldn't expect that in the job description."

MacLeod said the union is looking forward to a review of the response to the threat announced by the public schools branch.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |Endless summer? P.E.I. basking in warm September
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |7 tips on how to help kids deal with evacuation trauma