Letter to Parents

This letter is written for you— the teacher— to send home to your students’ parents. It will introduce them to “The Elephant in the Room”.

Dear Parents,

As your child’s teacher, I have no greater responsibility than their safety.

As you know, an important part of our school’s safety plan is to teach and practice lockdown drills. Lockdown drills present a unique problem to teachers of young children: we have the responsibility to instruct our students in the procedures, but do not want to give more details than are necessary. We are tasked with teaching children the “how”, while protecting them from the “why.”

As adults, we understand the frightening realities that make lockdown scenarios necessary. But we do not want to put those terrifying images into the minds of our vulnerable children.

To this end, I will be teaching lockdown procedures with a book called The Elephant in the Room: A Lockdown Story. It was written by a kindergarten teacher who understands firsthand the importance of this topic. It is designed to create a sense of urgency without creating a sense of fear.

Here’s the premise of the story: It is National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day and a circus truck has broken down in front of a school. The animals are free from their cages and have entered the school in search of the children’s peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The children calmly begin their lockdown procedures and hide from the animals until the animals are retrieved and returned to the circus truck. 

The beauty of this story is that the children learn to follow the procedures for any kind of emergency drill without experiencing fear. It is my belief that I can keep your children safe without traumatizing them in the process!

Thank you for your support as we navigate the tough situations in our school and society today.