Contaminated Soil Closes (Some Of) Greenwich HS Athletic Fields

In July 2011 during construction work to expand the Greenwich High School parking lot high chemical levels were discovered.

The cancer causing chemicals are PCBs and are highly toxic and were banned in 1979. The soil tests found levels which exceed the legal ground limit bordering some of the school's fields. An environmental hazard report will be filed with CT Sept of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Points for Consideration:

• This is an environmental SAFETY concern which COULD impact on the safety of students, staff, and fans if they are exposed to these chemicals at dangerous doses for a certain amount of time.
• This is a clear case of business resilience or School Continuity of Operations (COOP). When an incident occurs, "How will it impact on how your school functions?"  How do you mitigate the disruptions or changes to your school operations (curricular or extra-curricular)?
• There is a great potential for an over-reaction by the school OR the public in their response to hazardous chemicals. The SCHOOL DISTRICT NEEDS TO PUSH ACCURATE INFO TO THE PUBLIC TO ENSURE PEOPLE DON"T OVER-REACT. A smart public affairs response is critical to ensure school operations are not disrupted by the perception of a hazard vice the reality. 
• This will impact on school's outside Physical Education (PE) classes and extracurricular athletic activities (sports) scheduled. 

GET AHEAD OF AN INCIDENT OR IT CAN CONTROL YOU.

Effects of Winter & Cold Weather on Schools

SEVERE AND / OR EXTENDED COLD WEATHER CREATES UNIQUE HAZARDS

Being in the Northeast, we certainly get snow in the winter but this year it has been worse than ever in the volume and duration of snow and extremely low temperatures. Extreme temperatures, heavy volumes of snow, ice, melting & re-freezing have an effect on school operations, students and faculty, the facility, and the school incident management process. For example, an evacuation for a fire in freezing temperatures can cause cold weather injuries on students within a very short amount of time.

Here are some observations or points for discussion concerning adverse effects of cold weather:

• The freezing, melting, and refreezing caused the earth under the concrete to swell not allowing three external doors to open which would be used in an evacuation.
• This was forwarded to school safety committee and adjustments to evacuation were made until the ground thaws in warmer temperatures.
• Melting snow and the ensuing drainage becomes new ice the following day following evening low temperatures.
• Uncleared sidewalks or narrowly cleared sidewalks (due to weeks of snow) resulted in students walking in the road to and from school.
• Tall snowdrifts create dangerous blindspots in parking lots, entrances and exits to schools, and on numerous street corners, coupled with pedestrians walking in the roads is a bad combination.
• Heavy accumulations of snow on roofs can cause damage or even a roof collapse.
• Melting and falling Ice bridges and large icicles from roof can injure people.
• A school evacuation (fire, bomb, etc) = relocation to another school ASAP (As Soon As Possible).
• Using school buses as warming shelters until students are relocated is an improvised option, if you can initiate this fairly rapidly.
• Budget cuts affected the number of available snow plow drivers or overtime permitting school parking lots to be cleared to support school operations resulting in some school closures.

Information Technology & Identity Theft Concerns & Information Assurance

Community College Loses Data Device with Student and Worker Info

October 21, Knoxville News Sentinel – (Tennessee) Roane State data device with student, worker info missing. A data storage device containing the names and Social Security numbers of more than 10,000 people has been missing since October 12 when it was stolen from a Roane State Community College employee’s car while it was parked off-campus in Knox County, college officials announced today. The college has issued an “ID alert” on its Web site, sent letters to anyone who may be affected by the theft and has notified major consumer reporting agencies. The device was used for work-related purposes. “Immediately after the theft, we did not want to release information that would interfere with the investigation,” said Roane State vice president. “Once it became clear an arrest, or the recovery of the device, was not imminent, we informed those affected as quickly as possible.” The device contained the names and Social Security numbers of 10,941 people, including 1,194 current or former employees and 9,747 current or former students. The device also contained the Social Security numbers only, but no names, for 5,036 current or former students. No academic records were on the device. The community college has posted more information here, www.roanestate.edu/idalert. The college has also set up a hot line to handle questions from those affected by the theft. The number is 865-882-4688 or toll-free 1-866-462-7722, extension 4688.

October 4, Newsday – (New York) E-mail error sends out students’ Social Security numbers. Suffolk Community College has agreed to pay a company for the next year to monitor the credit of 300 students whose last names and Social Security numbers were mistakenly listed in an attachment to an e-mail sent to those students last month. The college vice president, said Sunday there is “no indication” that any of the personal information has been misused, but added that the college decided “it was the right step to take the extra precaution” to minimize students’ risk of identity theft. The error, said the vice president, occurred late in the day September 17 and was discovered the next morning. She said college officials immediately shut down the server and took steps to retrieve unopened messages and attachments. She could not say how much of the personal information was recovered or whether anyone was disciplined for the security breach. The vice president declined to comment on whether the college would be liable if student’s information was misused, saying such circumstances are “conjecture” at this point. The same day the college learned of the problem, the vice president said school officials mailed a letter to inform students of the problem and alert them to immediate steps they could take to protect their personal data, including registering an alert with the three companies that monitor credit information.

Points for Consideration:

• Does your department, school, or district have information and IT device controls and protocols for handling (physical, virtual, & human) and safe storage?
• Should this personal information become, lost, stolen, or compromised does your organization know what to do? What specifics steps would you take should an information compromise occur?
• Getting rid of old cell phones, zip disks, CDROMs, and computers that may contain personal information need to be considered when discarding items.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CAN BE A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD IF YOU AREN'T AWARE OF THE RISK.

Middletown CT Middle School Evacuated due to Fire

Points To Consider:

• Plans are important, but Drills build capability and can save lives.
• Smoke kills more people than fire.
• Thinking about a full school evacuation to a fire on a Friday morning is the last thing you would expect.
• Incidents occur when you least expect them 
• Did an evacuation relocation plan for student reunification with parents exist?
• How were student relocated to the reunification site? Walk? Bus?

• How would have this evacuation and relocation have been different if it was in February?  

What happend: An electrical room fire which generated smoke forced the evacuation and closure of Woodrow Wilson Middle School. Two custodians were sent to the hospital with minor smoke inhalation. The fire started at 8:15 am Friday morning which sent smoke throughout the building.The school staff and around 700 students evacuated the building without incident. The school remained closed for the remainder of the day while officials evaluated damage (smoke damage). The fire was limited to the electrical room and is under investigation.

FIRE DRILLS ARE NO JOKE, AND CONTINUE TO ENSURE OUR STUDENTS AND STAFF ARE PREPARED FOR A NO-NOTICE LIFE THREATENING INCIDENT.

A TORNADO? Why worry, I don't live in Kansas?

Tornadoes don’t only happen out west or in Kansas. However unlikely for your area, they can occur almost anywhere. This is exactly why school’s need to take an ALL HAZARD approach to school preparedness.

Sept 16, 2010: An east coast storm that generates two tornadoes and a micro-burst wind storm struck in the New York City region and generated 125 mph winds in the surrounding areas on Thursday evening during rush hour. The storm traveled across the high population dense urban areas in Brooklyn and Queens toppling trees and power lines, crushing cars, peeled away roofs, and unfortunately killed a woman sitting in her car alongside her husband. One of the tornadoes hit the NYC area at 5:33 pm with winds up to 80 mph and the other tornado hit the NYC area at 5:42 pm with winds up to 100 mph traveling in a path of four miles through the city. It was the micro-burst (an intense gust of wind that pours down from a storm) that generated 125 mph winds that covered an area 8 miles long by 5 miles causing considerable storm damage and loss of power. Residents and commuters were stunned and many people came close to injury and death as it occurred during rush hours including parents picking children up from after-school activities. There were 60 reports of buildings with possible structural damage.

Points to Ponder:

• A dangerous weather incident can occur at any time, in this real world weather emergency this storm could have affected your school's:
• Faculty, staff, and student families returning home from school.
• Teams and fans traveling to and from an away game school sporting event
• A Thursday night school home sporting event you are hosting, band competition, or play.
• Students being released from an after-school program for working parents or sports practice.
• How does your school track and monitor weather? How does school leadership use this weather tracking method to develop decision points (postpone, cancel, or continue) scheduled school events that maybe effected by weather? How are weather announcements made for school events?
• Following this storm, HOW do you check and WHO checks for structural damage in your school and school facilities?
• Your school may be fine but an adjacent one may be damaged and may require the temporary or short term use of your facilities? Do you have a plan for this? Have you coordinated with adjacent school for this type of event?
• If your school is damaged do you have a school continuity of operations plan (COOP)?

In March of 2010, there was a severe storm to the Northeast and our school in Connecticut was not damaged, save for an outside scoreboard. However, due to downed trees and associated power-lines throughout the city it created unsafe conditions for school children in their neighborhoods; we couldn’t open the school up for five school days.

DANGEROUS WEATHER CAN OCCUR ANYWHERE AND AT ANY TIME, SO ENSURE YOUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY IS PREPARED FOR IT. 

Small Plane Crashes Into Arizona High School, Four People Killed

(June 2010)  A small Cessna plane crashed into Round Valley High School in Eager, a small eastern Arizona town. The Cessna plane circled the area two or three times before it suddenly nosedived into the main building at Round Valley High School at about 2 p.m. and exploded. There were no reports of injuries on the ground and the blaze was contained to the main school building. Two hours later, flames were still erupting 20 to 30 feet above the roof of the two-story school. Fortunately, classes were out for the summer so no students or school personnel were injured. The school serves about 500 students in Eager and nearby Springerville and is about 200 miles east of Phoenix.

Four witnesses tried to get into the school building, but the doors were locked. As they were leaving, the plane exploded. Fire crews from nearly a dozen small towns in the region raced to battle the flames which occurred overnight and into the next day. Officials evacuated homes in neighborhoods east and north of the school. Authorities found four bodies in the plane wreckage pending further identification and a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation.

Some Things To Consider:

• Any incident is possible in regards to school preparedness. Who would ever imagine a small plane would crash into your school? Accident? Suicide or Attack? It is important to always ask yourself, "What If ...?" What would you do?
• When wargaming for natural or man-made incidents affecting your school, it is all about preparedness / prevention, NOT PARANOIA. (Al Qaeda attacking your school is considerably less likely than a disgruntled parent coming to take their child from school during a custody battle.)
• How many Fire departments (full time, volunteer, or combination of both) are prepared for a no-notice aviation (small or large plane or helo) crash in a residential area, let alone a school?
• Had that plane crash occurred during a school day, what would the School Evacuation, Mass Casualty, and Student Reunification Plan be????
• How would you conduct student and employee accountability?
• School Facility Recovery Phase: Post Fire Cleanup, School Facility Damage (Fire, Smoke, Water, Structural) Assessment, NSTB Investigation Scene, Insurance Investigation, Possible Crime Scene Site?, Post Incident Facility Safety and Security considerations.
• School COOP (Continuity of Operations):
• Were there summer classes or events scheduled? 
• What school critical functions have been affected by the plane crash?
• What is the level of damage to these school critical functions?
• How and When will these damages be fixed? 
• Will this timeline conflict with the full or partial opening of the school's opening?

RECOVERY PHASE BEGINS AS SOON AS THE RESPONSE PHASE TO THE INCIDENT OCCURS.