Norwalk Public Schools Teachers, Police & Fire Dept Discuss School Safety during Table Top Exercise

     This short video discusses the benefits of our City wide collaboration between Norwalk Public Schools, First Responders, and other city services in responding to a serious school incident on April 10, 2014. 

     Highlighted in the video are Norwalk Fire Chief (and Director of Emergency Management) Denis McCarthy and Deputy Chief David Wrinn discussing the All Hazard approach Norwalk is taking in regards to school preparedness (safety, security, and school climate). The Active Shooter Table Top Exercise focused on the three C's: Communication, Cooperation, and Collaboration. All 19 public schools with their School Incident Response Teams participated as well as Central Office's School Incident Support Team which is a coordinating entity to support the incident school(s) response, coordinate with Norwalk's Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and emplace the Recovery enablers as soon as possible.  
     The Table Top Exercise is an invaluable education and training tool to help clarify for the participants the difference between enthusiasm and capability.

The Role of Unions in School Preparedness (Safety, Security, & School Climate)

It does take a school community (a village) to raise, 

educate, nurture, and protect a child. 

     Unions, as a part of that community, are a vital component in that process. The school community encompasses the school administration, faculty, staff support, SRO, students; but also includes parents and guardians; first responders (law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services); neighborhood and local businesses; school district leadership and staff; unions (teachers, custodian, security, food service); city services (emergency management, transportation, health and human services, etc.), and local elected officials. All of these stakeholders (internal and external) are part of the school preparedness network and must work together. 

     If everyone is involved in school preparedness and any adult in a school might be a "first responder" in a school incident; then the unions that represent them must be integrated into the safety, security, and school climate equation. The school custodian at Sandy Hook Elementary School is credited with warning others about the impending threat and saving lives in the process. 

• The custodian who performs safety checks on machinery and knows the layout of the facility to advise first responders is critical. 
• The food service worker who hears a discussion or comment that causes them to be concerned for the welfare of a child or a co-worker can prevent a disaster. 
• The school security or hall monitor who establishes a professional approachable rapport with students and co-workers is invaluable to the prevention and critical response in any school incident. 
• The teacher who is in the classroom, hallway, and cafeteria with numerous students sometimes before, during, or after school has a powerful role in the safety and security of the school community. 
• The above representatives and a union building steward should have a representative role in any school preparedness committee that meets regularly in the building and district.

As difficult as it may be to believe in today's hyper-sensitive school preparedness environment, if a school or district doesn't take school preparedness as seriously as it should, then the unions provide a voice to make the school community safer and more secure. 

If there is a concern brought forward by a worker to a union representative it may be the worker's perception or a reality, either way it needs to be addressed for resolution. So that in the area of safety, security, and school climate there is a common understanding of what is taking place. 

The key is professional collaboration vice an adversarial accusatory relationship between the unions and the school administrative leaders. If student learning in a positive school climate within a safe and secure school environment is our collective goal, then it is important to work together.  Both sides should welcome the opportunity to collaborate to improve things for all.  It is not about blaming each other for mistakes or shortcomings, it is about working together to fix them as soon as possible for the safety and security everyone.

5 Simple Steps To Make Your School Safer and More Secure

5 Simple Steps to Take To Make Your School Safer and More Secure

Click on the link above to view the document. 

STEP 1: Instill, and Maintain, a School Preparedness Mindset.  

·         “See Something, Hear Something, Say Something”  campaign that is all inclusive

STEP 2: Form a School Preparedness Committee

STEP 3: Learn About School Preparedness (Free FEMA EMI Online Courses)

STEP 4:  Find, Review, and Refine your School Preparedness Plan

STEP 5: Conduct School Preparedness Drills and grow capability. 

Access INTO & OUT OF Your School Facility

KNOWING YOUR SCHOOL FACILITY IS KEY TO SCHOOL PREPARENESS

Schools and other educational institutions are designed to enhance learning. This learning must take place in a safe and secure environment. Knowing how to get into and out of your school is very important from a school preparedness perspective.  Keeping unwanted people out of your school is important. Knowing how to depart your school as an individual or with a group (class, parents, visitors) is also important. These concerns could come into play during the school day or during an extracurricular activity at your school. These access concerns could come into play during an outside activity (gym, sporting event, graduation ceremony, etc.).  Departing your school facility during an evacuation or having to quickly enter school (reverse evacuation) are important in a variety of school incidents.

How do people gain access into and out of your school? It is a simple question, but a very important one.

• What doors allow what access? Teachers and grown ups come in certain doors. Students may have some alternate entry points to gain entrance. Delivery personnel may use other entrances to make deliveries or make pick ups. Some exit ways are meant for emerencies only, but are they used for non-emergencies as well. Who has keys for these doors?
• How about windows? I heard a student (from a local school) talk about a ground floor window with a ledge that they used to "sneak out of the class room" when the teacher wasn't paying attention. How would you use the window in the room you are in as an exit if you were unable to use the door? How could you get through the window?
• How about access from the roof? If someone gets on your schools roof can they get into the school? (See the story below)
• How about subterranean access? Are there any underground entrances to your school? Sewage lines, crawl spaces, utilitiy service spaces, etc. Some schools were used as bomb shelters during the Cold War. Is there a crawl space beneath your classroom.
• Are there any repairs or renovations being done to your school facility which creates school access issues? In Aug 2011, a 15 yr old boy was found dead in the chimney of a junior high school (Ry H. Mann Internediate School in Brooklyn) when he and a number of teenage boys climbed on the school roof and there was scaffolding in the front of the building. Link: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=8299683

You do not want to wait until their is a crisis to "react" to trying to enter or exit your facility when you least expect it. The head facility manager and janitors generally know the facility, but the Principal, Housemasters, Teachers, SROs all need to know how to get into and out of the school facility regardless of where they are and what they are doing.

Live may depend upon it.

Student Safety Committee, Get the Students On Board

DON'T FORGET STUDENTS ARE STAKEHOLDERS IN YOUR SCHOOL PREPAREDNESS NETWORK...THEY ARE VITAL TO THE PROCESS.

At the school where I work, we have a School Safety Committee which has a cross representation of all different  adult stakeholders from the building: Principal, Housemasters, School Resource Officer, School Security, Union Rep, Teachers, Main Office Secretarial Rep, School Psychologist, Facilities Manager, etc. We focus on an all hazard approach to safety and security in accordance with a NIMs approach. We meet monthly with a monthly theme and have a templated process. We came to the realization that we had no direct student input in the process, so we are developing a Student School Safety Committee. I will be the group mentor / facilitator but it will be a student led effort and the outputs from their meeting will be inputs to the School Safety Committee that meets monthly and vice versa. It is interesting in that a student's perspective on safety, security, and preparedness offer some unique perspectives. More to follow, but it is a a concept other schools that do not directly include students in their process to look at.

SCHOOL PREPAREDNESS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT IS DONE "TO" THE STUDENTS TO KEEP THEM SAFE AND SECURE, THEY ARE KEY MEMBERS OF THAT PROCESS AND OFTEN ARE THE FIRST LINE OF SCHOOL PREPAREDNESS.