Tabletop Scenario for an Elementary School (Severe)

Opening scenario: It’s 1:00 p.m. on a bright and sunny Tuesday afternoon. A parent enters the office requesting that her kinder student be released for a doctor’s appointment. The office informs the teacher. The teacher instructs the female student to go to her locker and retrieve her sweater, backpack, and other items that she needs to take home, and then to return to the classroom. Her intent is to have the student escorted to the office. After a few minutes, the teacher realizes the student hasn’t returned; upon checking the student’s locker, she finds the student gone. A cursory search of the immediate area turns up nothing. The student is missing. Question Guide: What are your immediate steps relative to the parent? What are your immediate steps relative to the student?

Tuesday, 1:15 p.m. Irving Police arrive and begin searching the area. There are no clues in the case. Question Guide: What message do you give to your office should they receive telephone calls from concerned citizens who see the police activity? What other ideas do you have in your attempt to understand what this student may have done…and why? How do you help the parent to cope?

Tuesday, 2:00 p.m. Although there is still no sign of the student, you did receive a call from a neighbor saying that she thought it odd to see a student walking down the middle of the road (she says she didn’t immediately call because she thought that perhaps the student was out on recess, and that she had just gotten away from the teacher for a moment). Upon questioning the neighbor, you find that the student fits the description of your missing student. Community members are calling; the rumor mill is active. A media helicopter hovers above the school. Question Guide: What do you do with the information given by the neighbor? What’s your plan should parents arrive seeking to take their students out of school early? What’s your plan concerning the media? What’s your plan to inform other parents of today’s events? What do you do for the teacher of the missing student?

Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. IPD informs you that they now have reason to believe the student was abducted. It seems the biological father of the student is unstable, hostile to the family, and suicidal, and that he’s recently been seen around the campus. IPD issues an Amber alert. Question Guide: What do you do with this information? How do you call an early morning staff meeting? What sort of information would you give out?

Wednesday The search continues. IPD sends divers into the local lake, to no avail. Though many leads have been generated, the little girl is still missing. Your office continues to get calls; some parents are anxious, some supportive, some angry. Several members of the media are parked at a nearby location. The police have set up their mobile command station. The sight of all of this is mind-staggering to you, and downright frightening to your younger students. Question Guide: What are your short- and long-term plans? Have you overlooked anything in your response?

Thursday It’s very early in the morning when you receive a call from IPD. They give you the disturbing news that the body of your student has been located in Oklahoma. It is apparent that her biological father committed murder, then suicide. Question Guide: The death of a student. What steps do you need to take? What lessons have you learned through the process?