Districts Mull Safety

Officials Update Schools' Crisis Plans

— Officials in the Bentonville and Rogers school districts are talking about emergency procedures following the shooting that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday.

Brad Reed, Bentonville School District student services director, said district officials are reviewing portions of their plan following the attack in Connecticut.

At A Glance

Tips On Helping

Children In Disaster

Parental reaction in the face of tragedy or disaster is important to children, according to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Headaches, stomachaches, nightmares, bedwetting or acting out in anger can all be common childhood responses to traumatic stress. If needed, seek professional help.

Safety first

Children need to know that parents, teachers and other caregivers will do their best to keep them safe. Young children may not realize disaster is over or happened far away. Familiar routines, hugs and reassurances can help.

Monitor Your Child’s Exposure

Children cope better when they understand what is going on, but pictures and sounds from television, radio or Internet news coverage – even phone conversations – can negatively affect them. Use news coverage as a way to ask your child what she or he has heard and to explain that they are safe.

Talk with your child

Ask what they know and listen to what they have to say. They may not have a correct idea of what happened. Tell them gently, in language they can understand. Be a role model. Tell children being sad is OK.

Source: National Child Traumatic Stress Network

“A good crisis management plan is one that is always evolving,” Reed said. “One of the things that we are doing right now is re-evaluating the way that we secure our classroom doors.”

Reed is working with Bentonville Fire Chief Brent Boydston and Benton County Fire Marshal Marc Trollinger to make sure rooms are secured while also meeting state safety guidelines.

Controlled access is a procedure used by both districts. Controlled access to school buildings contributes to student safety, said David Cauldwell, business manager for Rogers Public Schools. Surveillance cameras pick up entryways, and at the high schools an entire bank of security cameras pick up activity inside the building.

A single unlocked front door funnels visitors to the front office at most Rogers schools. Other doors should stay locked, Cauldwell said.

Staffers try to make sure people who visit the school belong there. Teachers have identifying name badges, maintenance and food service staff wear uniforms and school offices issue visitor’s badges. If a parent who staff members do not recognize attempts to pick up a child he or she may be asked for identification.

If staff members do not recognize a parent who attempts to pick up a child, the parent may be asked for identification.

Reed said the Bentonville district also locks doors and uses video surveillance cameras before visitors are buzzed into schools. Office staff members swipe a visitor’s driver’s license once the visitor is inside. A national database will alert staff if the individual has any outstanding warrants or is a sexual predator, Reed said.

“We are not going to let people have access to our kids or our buildings if it would be an unsafe situation for our kids or our staff,” Reed said.

Every staff member in the Rogers School District has access to a flip chart with emergency plans for a variety of contingencies including: Chemical spill, intruder, tornado, fire or earthquake. The chart is a shortened form of the detailed plan worked out through the emergency preparedness grant with Bentonville, said Ashley Kelley Siwiec, Rogers public information officer. Schools routinely drill for fires, tornadoes or lockdown situations.

In case of an emergency or shooter situation teachers and school staff are trained to lockdown the school and take shelter, from there they would evaluate whether to stay where they are or evacuate, Siwiec said.

“When an event occurs there is a crisis team at each building and everyone has a job to do,” Reed said. “We have all kinds of safety drills that we do and at some point this spring we are going to be doing mock drills at all of the buildings.”

The two school districts split a $700,000 Readiness Emergency Management for Schools federal grant in 2009. The grant helped them hire a consultant to develop emergency plans for different situations. One of those being a shooter.

Consultants helped the district provide aerial and interior pictures of the schools to the Bentonville Police Department, Reed said. The plans help police and fire know how to respond in different emergency situations.

Siwiec said maps of Rogers schools can be accessed by police and fire departments through an online portal.

Bentonville Police Department Chief Jon Simpson said police officers have been onsite at district schools since Monday. He said the department will continue having officers onsite until students go on holiday break Thursday.

“We know that there is going to be a lot of anxiety right now with the parents, school staff and to the kids in some cases,” Simpson said. “We feel it will relieve some of the anxiety and it will make the schools a little safer.”

He said the department will continue to give support for a few days following break.

“All of our officers go through active shooting training,” Simpson said. “We have encouraged the officers to go into the schools and be familiar with the ends and outs, roof access and what not.”

Simpson said the police department utilizes school buildings when school is not in session in order to train for emergency situations such as a shooter.

Bentonville High School has two Bentonville police officers staffed on regular school days. Another officer spends time between the district’s two junior highs.

Superintendent Michael Poore said he plans to make a recommendation to school board members for hiring more officers.

All Rogers police officers attend an annual eight-hour training on active shooter situations, said Keith Foster, public information officer.

Both high schools and all four middle schools have a school resource officer posted at the school.

However, if shots were fired at a school all available units would respond, Foster said. Police would not wait or negotiate once they arrived, but attempt to get things under control as quickly as possible.

“Once you’re there, in you go,” Foster said.

Reed said it is important for parents to know that schools are a safe place for their children.

“Statistically, there is no safer place for your kids to be at day in and day out than at your public schools,” Reed said. “We work very hard in Bentonville and across the whole country to protect kids and staff members every single day. Unfortunately there are things that happen from time to time and we certainly want to make sure we do everything we can here in the Bentonville School District to prevent those things.”

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