Have you noticed a plain white bucket in your classrooms? If so, you probably haven’t thought much of it, but in the case of an emergency, it could save your life.
In SHS classrooms, these buckets are typically stored in the corner or decorated with fun materials. Referred to as “Just In Case Kits,” the buckets contain supplies that enhance procedures for a lockdown, a stay-in-place, or even an accident in the hallway. Stored inside these white buckets are a roll of paper towels, toilet paper, wipes, and a tourniquet. This equipment can be critical during an emergency; however, the white bucket could also be useful during a lockdown if students and teachers are unable to leave their classrooms to use the restroom.
The presence of the buckets raises an important question: Who decided they were necessary?
Lieutenant David Bortolotto, a firefighter in Scituate, proposed providing buckets for every classroom at every Scituate school. When asked why he saw the need for these buckets, Bortolotto recalled an incident eight years ago, when there was an active shooter near the grounds of Cushing Elementary School: “After that day, I realized the teachers did a great job with the kids, but they needed something different.” When Bortolotto attended a program on responding to active-shooter situations, he realized that during a lockdown, Scituate teachers would need additional support. As a result, Bortolotto developed a plan to help prepare Scituate Public Schools for emergencies.
With support from local public health nurses, who helped raise funds and purchase the equipment, Bortolotto raised $37,000 to purchase the “Just In Case Kit” supplies. In addition, he asked people to donate to Community Christmas, which helped fund the kits. Watson Family Hardware, located in Scituate Harbor, donated the first 100 buckets and sold each additional bucket to Bortolotto for $2.25.
During the eight years it took Bortolotto to complete his plan, he also received support from Nurse Kellie Bell, the SPS Department Chair of Nursing and Health Services, who helped present it to the school committee. Consequently, teachers at each school underwent safety training and practiced responding to fire drills, evacuations, lockdowns, and stay-in-place situations. Nurse Bell said, “It’s a refresher training every year that we do with the public safety officers, RSROs, and the fire department. We have a certain number of drills every year. Part of this training included information on the white buckets, a little bit of background from Captain Bortolotto, as well as any emergency operations type of training.”
Following the high school teacher training, SHS science teacher David Richardson said teachers learned which equipment is best used for each purpose. In addition, he added, “We had to practice with the tourniquets. We had to practice stuffing wounds with the gauze and the different packing instruments that they gave us. Mostly just to be prepared in case of an emergency.”