Herald Staff and News Services
Many schools nationwide are just now placing greater emphasis on safety after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but Snohomish County schools are way ahead of that movement.
County school officials say precautions put into place after the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo., already are protecting students and school personnel.
Lockdown drills, for example, are practiced routinely at schools across Snohomish County.
The lockdown emphasis began after Columbine, and has not increased in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, school officials said.
"I don’t think we have necessarily stepped it up," said Gay Campbell, an Everett School District spokeswoman. "We’ve had them consistently over the last few years."
School officials have also been vigilant in screening strangers on campus and sharing updated school floor plans with law enforcement agencies, she said.
Andy Muntz, a Mukilteo School District spokesman, said, "Safety has always been a priority, and we always practice (procedures)."
"I think the key is keeping fresh and doing these drills," said Arlene Hulten of the Lake Stevens School District.
But schools elsewhere in the nation are only now getting around to such things as lockdown drills. Administrators in the Olentangy School District in Lewis Center, Ohio, spent the summer debating whether to require lockdown drills in the district’s nine schools. The Sept. 11 attacks helped them make up their minds.
The drills are now as regular as test runs for fires or tornadoes, with teachers keeping students in secured classrooms with the shades drawn.
"We were checking our existing plan to see if we were prepared if, God forbid, something were to happen," school superintendent William Reimer said. "Then Sept. 11 happened, and it reinforced the need to be as prepared as we can."
Elsewhere, schools are adopting new safety measures and adjusting emergency plans that were designed primarily to deal with natural disasters or student violence.
School officials in Buffalo, N.Y., required 5,000 people attending a high school football game on Thanksgiving to walk through metal detectors, a procedure that will remain in place indefinitely for major events.
In October, schools in Fraser, Mich., started keeping exterior doors locked instead of letting visitors use the front door and expecting them to stop at the office. An adult door monitor admits visitors.
The Center for School Safety, based in Kentucky, this month plans to begin revamping model emergency plans to include instructions on bioterrorism, chemical weapons and mass infections.
The 137,000-student Montgomery County, Md., school system began offering three-hour crisis training sessions last fall for administrators, teachers and other staff members.
They are taught how to assess the severity of bomb threats, understand emergency codes and run evacuation drills. They are put through simulations of emergencies.
Curt Lavarello, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers in Boynton Beach, Fla., said more schools are working with police and fire departments. Some are looking into whether there is a high-risk target nearby, such as a historic landmark, military installation or nuclear plant.
Herald Writer Eric Stevick contributed to this report.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
