Schools urged to revisit emergency plans
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — In the wake of last Friday’s school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. that left 20 children and six adults dead, Maine Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen is asking Maine schools to revisit their emergency plans.
“Naturally parents and students and the community want to know that Maine schools are safe,” he said. “While we can never guarantee that our schools are 100 percent danger-free, we can provide assurances that we have plans in place.
“I am asking every school district in the state to examine its all-hazards emergency plans as soon as possible to ensure they are up-to-date,” said Bowen, “and to involve local law enforcement/public safety personnel in that review, and to consider what efforts may be necessary locally to update plans, train or otherwise enhance preparedness and planning.”
All school districts in Maine are required by law to have a comprehensive emergency management plan in place and reviewed and approved by the school board annually. These plans are developed and updated in collaboration (also required by law) with local emergency personnel.
“This collaboration not only makes for a better plan, but it also establishes familiarity and lines of communication that can be vital in times of emergency,” said Bowen. “Reviewing these plans is a smart thing to do in light of this grim reminder, and will also serve as a re-assurance to Maine families.”
Bowen said the Maine DOE is actively working with the Maine Emergency Management Agency — and was prior to Friday’s shooting — to update the requirements on evacuation drills to also include lock-down drills.
“We can all do more and this horrible event is a reminder that we must continually re-examine our efforts in this area,” he said.
SAD 1 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said the district is being very pro-active.
“We can never be overly prepared to guard against these types of crises, and for that reason, we will be taking another hard look at our district and building crisis plans in the coming days,” said Johnson, who met with the district’s principals yesterday to discuss school safety. “They will be holding crisis plan review meetings in the near future with faculty and staff.
“While we cannot completely prevent these attacks within our schools, we need to be as prepared as possible to address any crisis that may occur here,” he said.
The Maine DOE has created a Sandy Hook web page with a number of resources for school districts, parents and families, including information about emergency planning and preparedness, how to talk with children, a question-and-answer section, and other materials. That page can be accessed by logging onto http://www.maine.gov/doe/school-safety/sandyhook.html.
