DALLAS TWP. — School lunch trays with food left unattended, spilled milk in the cafeteria — these are all images that haunt Dallas Township Police Officer Gina Kotowski following the May 2016 bomb threat that evacuated the Dallas School District.
“It was an eerie feeling to walk through Wycallis Elementary with a state police officer and a bomb-sniffing dog and see student lunches left and the halls empty,” Kotowski said.
The experience inspired her to create a ‘Go Bucket/Lock-Down Bucket’ for each classroom. The buckets are stocked with items to help teachers meet the needs students if they are locked in their classrooms or evacuated due to an emergency situation.
On April 10, each classroom in the Dallas School District received a blue bucket containing paper towels, tissues, bathroom paper, wet wipes, gloves, thermal blankets and first aid kits, Kotowski said.
The buckets can be used if a child gets sick or as a toilet in a lock-down situation, she said.
Dallas Elementary School health teacher Angela Crandall said the bucket added a “sense of security” to the classroom and she was grateful to receive it.
Teachers are encouraged to add classroom-specific items to the bucket, Kotowski said.
Crandall said she put a copy of her class roster and batteries in the bucket. She was thinking of adding a track phone.
Crandall has put the bucket near the classroom door for easy access.
The ‘Go Bucket/Lock-Down Bucket’ is something Kotowski learned about during her School Resource Officer training and wanted to implement at Dallas School District for a while.
But the price of the well-stocked bucket was just out of Kotowski’s reach.
“It would be very costly to supply each classroom with a bucket,” she said. “It cost between $100 to $300 per bucket.”
She discussed it with friends, school administration and staff.
“After the bomb scare, I thought, ‘I really needed to get this project going,’” Kotowski said. “The way the world is today, it is unfortunate that we have to think this way.”
Her idea reached the ears of a person in the community who agreed with the concept and made an anonymous donation to fund the Go Bucket project.
Kotowski teamed up with the Back Mountain Police Association and reached out to a local flashlight manufacturer who donated 192 flashlights.
The group contacted Lowe’s Home Improvement in Wilkes-Barre Township which offered a discount on the purchase of the big blue buckets, she said.
Kotowski said Kimberly-Clark Corporation also supported the idea by donating paper towels, bathroom paper and wet wipes.
The Back Mountain Police Association provided gloves, first aid kits, thermal blankets and two rolling duffel bags for Dallas Elementary and the middle school for the schools’ offices.
“Wycallis Elementary already had a duffel bag,” Kotowski said. “I provided one to the high school.”
When the inventory arrived at the police station, Kotowski began the process of assembling each bucket.
“I finished 40 in three hours,” she said, before realizing she needed a hand and reached out to Kingston Township DARE Officer John Fuches.
In a day, Kotowski, Fuches and Kingston Township Police Department intern Jeffrey Carter filled 185 ‘Go Buckets/Lock-Down Buckets.’
The buckets were delivered to each of the classrooms with a note from Kotowski stating, “This project was a HUGE task, but one of my most fulfilling. Since the bomb scare last year, I am constantly looking for ways to improve emergency situations.”
“This is another piece of the puzzle for safety,” said Dallas Elementary School Principal Thomas Traver. “The buckets could make a difficult situation a little more comfortable for the students.”
