Fayetteville principals hear overview of emergency operations plan

FAYETTEVILLE -- Principals and central office administrators reviewed revisions Monday to the School District's Emergency Operations Plan, which takes effect for the upcoming school year.

The principals offered a few suggestions to revise the plan and asked mostly for clarification on various issues. Ginny Wiseman, associate superintendent for administrative services, said the revisions dealt with terminology.

The plan covers accidents, bomb threats, shelter in place, bus accidents or missing buses, chemical communication, violent actions, drive-by shootings, earthquakes, suicides, evacuations, fires, utility failures, gas leaks, hostages, vandalism, illicit drugs, drug use, suspected child abuse, intruders, lock downs, medical emergencies, missing students, unauthorized removal of a student, riots, racial incidents, sexual assaults and tornadoes.

The plan outlines the procedures to follow at the district and building levels when such incidents occur.

Principals and other administrators need to be on the same page when dealing with emergencies, said Jimmy Trotter with Educational Operational Consultants of Allen, Texas. He and his consulting partner, Billy Coburn, have worked with the district to revise its emergency plan.

Trotter said the plan should be reviewed and updated every three years because of personnel changes or new schools in a district.

The plan provides general guidance for emergency management activities covering mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, Trotter said. The mission of each plan is to protect lives and property, he added.

The goal is to get students back to normal as soon as possible, Trotter said.

The consultants gave an overview of the plan and then the principals and others divided into 10 groups of three or four people to review the sections and offer suggestions.

"It's a very useful exercise," said John Foster, a school resource officer with the Fayetteville Police Department. "It's a time to throw out new ideas, improved ideas." He also announced three additional resource officers will be in the district next school year. Officers will be assigned to Woodland and Ramay junior high schools and the ALLPS alternative learning center. Two officers are already at the high school.

Byron Zeagler, assistant principal at Fayetteville High School, said the meeting was useful.

"A crisis plan is ever evolving and we were learning how to refine it and to update it," he said.

Wiseman said the revisions are based on the National Incident Management System in accord with a Homeland Security directive on emergency preparedness.