Angry parents say elementary school principal ignored tornado warning and dismissed kids during storm
Parents of students attending Warren Elementary School in Cockeysville, Maryland, are claiming that the school's principal ignored a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service and dismissed students during the storm. The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado, which traveled three miles and had a path 150 yards wide, touched down on Friday afternoon in the nearby town of Monkton.
Jenn Reedholm, one of the irate parents, was waiting outside of the elementary school when she received the tornado warning on her phone, according to WBALTV.
"I got the alert on my phone that said, 'Tornado warning, take shelter now,'" Reedholm told the outlet.
Reedholm entered the school's office to take shelter where she asked the principal, Lisa Dingle, if she would delay the afternoon dismissal.
"She said, 'It's just a warning.' I said, 'No, it means imminent danger, and it says take shelter now,' and she ignored me and carried on the dismissal as usual," Reedholm claims. "[It] was down-pouring and lightning really bad, really dark, and the teachers decided to take some of the kids back in, and then chaos became more chaotic at that point when kids were crying, screaming, 'It's very scary.' I was scared, I was shaking."
“Kids were soaked to the bone. A school with mostly walkers, they sent everyone outside into wicked lightning and did not allow parent to come in out of the storm during the emergency,” one woman shared on Baltimore County Public Schools’ Facebook page. “They put every single person on campus in harms way including students, staff, parents and others...The school board really needs to take some disciplinary action this time.”
Dingle did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.
According to WBALTV, district officials are looking into the incident and protocol is to hold students at the school during a tornado warning. Nearby schools halted dismissal of their students until the warning expired.
"The weather blew in very quickly and at the school, they didn't have the warning that they needed to pull everybody back in, but then it was too late," said Brandon Oland, the Communications Specialist serving Baltimore County Public Schools. "We're looking to see what could've been done better. The community is right to be concerned, that's an important thing."
Parents told WBALTV that they received an automated phone call from the principal in which she explained her decision to dismiss based on the information she had at the time. She informed parents she would meet with internal stakeholders to assess their dismissal policy and safety procedures for severe weather.
Brandon Oland provided the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle:
“Severe weather pushed through portions of Baltimore County during afternoon dismissal Friday afternoon. A tornado warning was issued just as students were dismissing at Warren Elementary. Despite the inclement weather, all students returned home safely, and we did not have any reports of transportation-related incidents. Some nearby elementary schools in the area dismiss later than Warren Elementary. At the discretion of school principals, they chose to delay their dismissal until the storm passed. This storm occurred after high school and middle school dismissal.”
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