MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
111601 Safety plans include evacuations, lockdowns
By FRANK NARDOZZI
Fire drills and the testing of air raid sirens may have been the extent of emergency procedures when today's adults were in school.
But this is a new age marked by terrorism and acts of violence, a situation that has prompted some dramatically new ways of dealing with things.
Some of the new techniques were brought to light in the district wide school safety plan that was discussed and adopted by the Bedford Central School Board at its meeting Wednesday night.
The plan is required by the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) law that was enacted by the state legislature and is consistent with the more detailed emergency response plans required at the school building level.
By way of introducing the plan, assistant Superintendent Mark Betz cited the fact that there were nine
acts of violence in the nation's public schools over the last three years that resulted in the deaths of 24 students and four teachers and the injury of many more.
"Emergencies and violent incidents in school districts are critical 'issues that must be addressed in an expeditious and effective manner," Mr. Betz said. "Districts stand at risk from a wide variety of acts of violence, natural and manmade disasters.
"The district wide school safety plan is designed to prevent or minimize the effects of serious violent incidents and emergencies and to facilitate the coordination of the district with local and county resources in the event of such incidents or emergencies,
"While we are proud of the safety record in our schools over the years and the way in which emergency situations have been handled, we believe continued training and practice, along with regular updating and revision of the district's safety plans will keep the district in the best position for effectively managing a crisis or emergency," he said.
Evacuations
In addition to the familiar state mandated fire drills, 12 of which are required per year, there will be some new evacuation drills for on-site and off-site sheltering.
In case of some kind of biologic or other terrorist attack at Fo x Lane middle or high school, the plan is to evacuate students from one school to the other, if the other is unaffected, or send the students home.
"Secondary school parents would not be called because it's impossible to reach all of the parents of the nearly 2,000 middle and high school students on the Fox Lane campus," Mr. Betz said.
If the decision is to send the students home, this requires that every family have an emergency plan for how their children will get home and into the house, Mr. Betz said.
The students at the five elementary schools will not be sent home. They will have on-site and off-site sheltered areas, some of them obtained in reciprocal agreements with the town
or private schools. The locations of these sites were not disclosed and will be kept confidential.
In case of a violent incident or terrorist attack, Mr. Betz stated that the police will be called to block off the roads to allow the schools' faculty and staff to walk the students to these sheltered locations,
"The dramatic change is that parents will not be called to pick up their kids," Mr. Betz said. "It will not be appropriate for parents to come to the schools. Parents will be notified where to get information and where to pick up their children."
Mr. Betz said that the new procedures were developed after the Columbine High School shooting incident when it was noted that parents blocked the streets and prevented access to the school by police and emergency vehicles.
In some emergency situations, schools will be "locked down." No one except for police and emergency personnel will be allowed into the
building, and the students will be kept in their classrooms.
"Parents need not be afraid of that," Mr. Betz said. "in some situations, the students will be safer in their classrooms than they would be outside or out on the
roads.
"Of course, we are always willing to accommodate parents who wish to pick up their children in case of bad weather, but not when the campus is closed."
Mr. Betz said that the schools planned to use a redundant system of communications to get information out to parents about what is happening and where their children are.
The system includes the use of five local radio stations: WHUD (100.7 FM), WFAS (1230 AM), WZZM (106.3 FM), WLAD (98.3 FM and 850 AM), and WVIP (13 10 AM).
It also includes local television stations: News-12 and Cable TV channel 71 and the school district's Web site
(bedford.kl2.ny.us).
The schools will also use building level telephone trees and key PTA contacts using telephone and e-mails.
In general, Mr. Betz advised parents against using the phone and to rely on the television and radio media, instead, to obtain information. He cited the fact that phone lines were jammed for hours after the Sept. I I World Trade Center attack.
Indian Point
In response to a question by School Board Member Mark Slivka, Mr. Betz said that Fox Lane high and middle
schools were designated shelters in case of an attack on the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
The county would declare such an emergency and notify Bedford Central to evacuate these schools to make room for county residents who live within a 10-mile radius of the power plant.
A copy of the districtwide school safety Plan can be obtained at any of the district's seven schools or at the central administration building on the Fox Lane campus.