An Emergency Plan For The United States

6. As an administrator, building supervision and student/staff safety has to always be at the forefront in planning for the school day. Not doing so, can lead to the unthinkable like this situation, a school

In the article “Have You Properly Tested Your School Lockdown Concepts?” the authors explained how to minimize problems within school lockdown drills. The problem with school lockdown drills is that they are not tested properly. This article provides information on how to properly test lockdown drills and increase preparedness in staff and students. In the past there have been consequences of schools where they only had one traditional lockdown drill and this includes Columbine High School, Red Lake Reservation High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School. These schools did not perform multiple scenario based drills that could have reduced casualties. In order to prepare for a school crisis, lockdown drills should be scenario based and should

At approximately 8:30 a.m. today, Wednesday, December 14th, we will be conducting a Lockdown Drill. This drill is designed to prepare both students and staff for events taking place within our school that could pose an immediate threat to the safety of our building attendees (i.e., a violent intruder, discovery of a weapon, or bomb threat). During this drill, it is extremely important that you lock your classroom door with the Night Lock device and to not allow anyone to enter or leave. In addition, disregard all bells during this drill, as I will communicate with you over the PA system.

After the Sandy Hook, there were countless ways for students to be safe at school. In Preparing for the Unthinkable: School Safety after Sandy Hook news article, Vicki Bauman said, “ Instead of gates, guns, and metal detectors, let’s invest in the things we know will make us safer: counselors, health care, teaching positive behavior, and making sure we have services to reach out to disconnected youth and pull them back on track.” Therefore, violence is not the answer to any question or issue. The community and school system should take a stand and get the necessities that the schools need to have a safe environment for the students and faculty and staff. The school can invest in law enforcement. The law enforcement will be able to conduct a consistent search through a metal detector. The law enforcement will help the students to avoid bringing prohibited weapons to school as well as, there to protect the school.

Through this tragedy, educators have learned a different approach to intruders. We teach students to think for themselves through a training program called ALICE: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. There is no linear progression to ALICE. Through studies, we have learned the best chance for survival is to evacuate the building and run. ALICE teaches schools, teachers, and students how to respond in intruder situations. Schools all across the country including hundreds in our area conduct weekly ALICE drills. An example of items implemented from our ALICE trainings include: a method of communication to all teachers and students, increase in the number of school security cameras, door locking mechanisms on every classroom door to be used in the event that a classroom cannot evacuate and needs to “shelter in place” and finally, a go-bucket. Items in a go-bucket vary across schools but if you google the term you will see these items include: items to barricade a door, items to defend oneself, items such as wasp spray, which can

It is essential to have lockdown and shelter in place drills. For a tremendous amount of schools (including John T Baker ), have only had 1 lockdown and shelter in place drill all year. This drill didn't happen until after the devastating incident in Florida. 1 drill ( lasting about 10-15 minutes) out of the 180 days of school is entirely not enough. At my school if there was an incident like the one in Florida half

Obtain attendance and tell the building administrator of missing students or staff when the threat is eradicated.

School emergencies can range from a simple fire drill to a full-on armed intruder. One of the hardest tasks to do in an emergency is to account for everyone to ensure folks are safe and to avoid sending emergency personnel into a hazardous area looking for people who may actually already be safe.  It’s also important to know if someone is still in a hazardous area and exactly where to make rescue quicker and more efficient.

Classroom intercoms blare on without warning, “Shelter in place!” is yelled clearly throughout the school building. Doors ae locked and lights are turned off, your teacher rushes you and your classmates to a corner in complete silence. You as a student truly don’t know if you and your friends are safe in this moment. This is a school shooting.

Like emergency management, the best way to handle school crisis is being pro-active prior to an emergency. One of the risk reduction strategies a school can take is having a safety and security risk assessments. It is best that these risk assessments are doing by third party professionals; not only are they able to cover all of the grounds, they are less likely to be influenced by school politics.

If I thought a hurricane might affect my community, I would take the following steps to ensure safety and preparedness for my family and clients by completing a rapid need assessment. I would first determine the extent of the hurricane and then assess both my family and clients’ immediate needs. I would ensure that both my family and clients are protected by providing them with necessary skills and knowledge to help them cope with the hurricane. I would create a hurricane response plan and rehearse it with them. I would provide them with important phone numbers such as 911, Red cross and FEMA. I would teach them how and when to call 911. I would also remove or report any unsafe equipment or fix any potential hazards which may further endanger

Outside, the teachers broke us into groups to investigate, reminding us that with the lights out there is a “potential hazard of downed electrical power lines.” Should

Our collective mission is ‘to nurture and educate our children in accordance with all curriculum standards to prepare them for responsible citizenship and success in life’. The district’s strategic plan was created with the community after holding several meetings with a variety of stakeholders and demonstrates the community’s values as well as integrating 21st century skills into the classroom so students can succeed in a global economy. This was the first time our district included the community in planning and the Superintendent and Director of Curriculum were new so it was a positive change. I remember the notices we received via email encouraging teachers to attend, however, many did not because our previous administration was very bold about punishing those that did not agree with them. Over the past few years, the new central office team has worked hard in trying to build trust by forming committees, email communications, and surveys that are directly related to our goals. According to the article, “a transformation strategy is fundamentally about remaking what the people in central offices do- their daily work and relationships with school,” (p. VI).

The government is responsible for providing the leadership in emergency planning and preparedness for disasters which includes terrorist attacks. Including the government, the private sector also has a responsibility to protect their assets from crimes and disasters. The government protects the high risk targets like landmarks and targets; the private sectors provide extra security for shopping malls, oil refineries, and utility plants. The American businesses do a good job at protecting people and assets from crime and disasters, but what is their plan for terrorist attacks.

From participation in this activity on liability issues, I learned that safety is not only an ongoing issue that should involve all employees, but it should be a priority right up there with education. As an administrator, it will be important to anticipate the school’s needs in order to provide the resources to meet those needs. Since a school, especially a rural school like mine, can be the largest presence in the community, there is a huge amount of exposure due to the role it plays in the community. My school hosts events, serves as the weather shelter for the town, and is often used as the meeting place for organizations. This activity reaffirmed the importance of making safety an ongoing process that involves everyone – teachers, support staff, students, parents, food service, custodial, maintenance and operations, and the community – as well as making it a priority. Because if the school is not safe and operational, then education won’t be able to occur.