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By MARK GUYDISH markg@leader.net
Sunday, March 02, 2003 Page: 1A
A worst case scenario: School windows sealed with duct tape, buckets and
bags storing human waste, trapped children drinking from toilet tanks as they
spend sleepless nights waiting for danger to pass and help to come.
It might be unlikely – in part because few expect a disaster so huge
students would be stuck for days in local schools, and in part because most
schools have tankless toilets.
But it is a picture easily conjured after scanning growing reams of
recommendations for extensive disaster preparations in our schools.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched a new Web site dubbed
ready.gov, the American Red Cross offers a long list of emergency supplies
schools should stock in each classroom, and the State Department of Education
recently released results from a “Crisis Response Survey” of districts.
So it seems fair to ask, in the era of the color-coded terrorism advisory
system: How well-prepared are Luzerne County’s public schools?
The answer: Better than they were a year or two ago, but not as well as the
newer guidelines recommend.
School plans can be extensive
Administrators from nine districts – The Times Leader could not reach
anyone from Pittston Area and Greater Nanticoke in time for this article –
said they have either devised completely new, comprehensive crisis response
plans in the past two years, or have revamped existing plans.
All consider the plans “works in progress,” facing revision if and when
flaws are found or new risks unearthed.
Asked what type of emergencies the plans cover, the response was universal.
As Randy Peters at Northwest Area said, “We put everything possible we can
think of in it.”
Peters, the assistant principal at Northwest’s middle and high schools,
helped draw up that district’s new plan during the past two years – a common
time frame from start to finish, according to those interviewed.
Spending so much time makes sense when you look at what the plans cover.
Take the list on Wyoming Valley West’s “crisis management guidelines”:
Allergic reactions, armed intruder, assaults or fighting, burglary, child
abuse, drugs/alcohol, fire or explosion, gang activities, kidnapping, robbery,
tornadoes, trespassing, vandalism, weapons, dealing with a death in the school
family, suicide and bomb threats.
Many of these have subcategories. For example, “armed intruder” could
involve a person within the building, or outside.
And that’s just the shorthand version of the district’s comprehensive
manual, said Chuck Suppon, the coordinator of pupil services. Like other
districts, Wyoming Valley West keeps a more detailed policy at the
administration office.
The move toward comprehensive written policies began in earnest after the
1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado, said Hazleton Area School
District Security Director Vince Zola.
The Sept. 11 attacks spurred renewed interest, with many districts
broadening the scope of the plans, several officials said.
“Before, everybody had a plan in the back of their head, and what has
happened is everyone wants to get it into writing,” said Dallas
Superintendent Gilbert Griffiths. “We put in as much as we can think of,
without becoming so voluminous it’s not workable.”
Systems have lots in common
There are elements common in all districts:
Lockdown procedures have been established for some emergencies, such as an
armed intruder. Generally, students will be ordered away from doors and
windows, and each class door locked until danger passes. This also can be used
for environmental hazards outside, with windows closed and air intakes turned
off.
Evacuations are an old standby for things such as fires and bomb threats.
All of the officials interviewed said each school now has a designated place
where students would be sent for an extended evacuation, with procedures to
have parents pick the children up. Those procedures include checking parent
identification.
Secret codes have been devised so a principal or superintendent can let
teachers know what the specific crisis is quickly, without panicking students.
Districts have developed closer relationships with police and fire
departments, involving them in the development of response plans and often
asking them to walk through schools and review policies to point out
weaknesses. Outside, private agencies sometimes conduct similar reviews.
Most districts have purchased wireless equipment to connect officials in
each building. Cell phones made by Nextel that double as walkie-talkies have
become popular – Wyoming Area, Wilkes-Barre Area and Hanover Area have them –
and Dallas opted for two-way radios similar to those used by police.
The person who can officially activate the plan varies on paper, but is
the same in real life. Technically, most districts require the
superintendent’s OK. But in a crisis, individual principals or even teachers
can and would assume responsibility.
Many materials not stockpiled
None of those interviewed said his or her districts stockpile food and
other emergency supplies for what experts call “shelter in place,” keeping
the kids in the school for several days. Such a situation would rise primarily
from environmental threats – a bioterror attack, for example.
The American Red Cross offers a long list of supplies each classroom should
have in case students are forced to stay in the school for days, including
non-perishable food, bottled water, and pails and garbage bags for handling
human waste.
The Red Cross also recommends each class have its own stash of other
supplies, including crowbars, latex gloves, leather work gloves, protective
goggles and duct tape – to seal doors and windows against airborne hazards.
Most districts have limited versions of such kits – excluding food and
water – in the schools, though not necessarily in the classrooms. Zola, at
Hazleton Area said that for nearly nine years his security officers have kept
“ready bags” with things such as first aid kits, duct tape, gloves, rubber
boots, flashlights and spare batteries.
Peters, at Northwest Area, said each school has emergency kits that include
a bullhorn, phone numbers of emergency contacts, a list of all students, maps
with evacuation routes and written procedure about how parents must sign
students out from the evacuation site.
Only Northwest stockpiles bottled water. The Red Cross recommends at least
three days worth, 1 gallon per person per day. In a class of 25 students, that
would mean 75 gallons – and the water should be replaced every six months.
Northwest keeps “a couple gallons per room and a large five gallon
container in the school,” Peters said, but it has a specific purpose: to help
kids down iodide pills if radiation leaks from the nuclear plant near Berwick.
Although no district stockpiles nonperishable food, everyone interviewed
was confident students could be fed for several days with the supplies
routinely kept in cafeterias.
“We have enough to keep the students for about a week if have to,”
Griffiths, from Dallas, said.
No district has provisions for human waste. The Red Cross suggests each
class have a large bucket, 100 plastic bags, toilet paper and hand washing
supplies.
And the policies lack one other element: provisions to tell students what’s
going on. Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Jeff Namey summed up what everyone
said. “We often don’t have the time to tell kids, and candidly I don’t think
it’s that important. A minute or two minutes could create a tragedy.”
Namey, and the others, agreed that children should get an explanation if
they are old enough to understand and if there is enough time – or, at the
least, when the crisis is over.
Plans being constantly studied
These plans are, all said, under regular review.
Lake-Lehman Superintendent Robert Roberts said the district is considering
buying special vests to help parents and emergency workers find faculty
members who are in charge as a crisis evolves.
Dallas Superintendent Griffiths said the state is developing a crisis
response team that principals could rely on when their own system is
overwhelmed. That team was recommended by the state’s “crisis response
committee after a 2001 survey.
The survey found most schools in the state have comprehensive plans, but
nearly three-fourths of those who responded saw a need for a state level
response team.
But there is a limit to how comprehensive a plan can be, Griffiths said.
“You can turn buildings into fortresses, and they become prisons for kids.
But is that what they really are? Schools are not supposed to be prisons.”
Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161.
On the web
Numerous Web sites have popped up offering recommendations on preparing for
terror attacks or other emergencies at schools. Here are some:
redcross.org Click on “disaster services.”
ready.gov A new site from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
pde.state.pa.us The state Department of Education. Click on the “K-12
schools” tab, then “student services and programs,” then “crisis
response.”
center-school.org The Center for Safe Schools, an organization created by
the state’s 1995 Safe Schools Act.