Category: Lockdown
What The Terrorist Attacks in India Mean to School Safety
The recent attacks in Mumbai, India illustrate that Islamic terrorists will implement previous attack strategies that assault civilian soft targets. The relevance to educational facilities is drawn from the September 1st, 2004 massacre at the Beslan Russia elementary school that left 330 people (most of whom were children) dead.
Defining "Securable" Locations for a Lockdown
Most schools have a lockdown plan. However, not many schools have a good lockdown plan. Just as every classroom should have an evacuation plan, every room needs a lockdown plan that meets the needs of that specific location. Keep in mind, there are numerous access control solutions that can enhance a school's ability to lockdown and no location can offer total protection from a hostile intruder. At a minimum, schools should identify locations that meet certain basic safety guidelines.
Case Study - Fighting Back Against a School Shooter
Lately it seems there has been a lot of interest in schools and colleges instructing teachers to fight back when confronted with an armed attacker. Certainly the thought of having teachers (and even students) being told to throw books and fight back against a gunman is incredible and counter-intuitive. Luckily no one ever told by Ryan Crowley, Jake Ryker, Josh Ryker, Douglas Ure, Davis Ure, Ada Walberger, Joshua Pearson and Travis Weaver not to fight back against a school shooter. In 1998, these seven students prevented an attacker from killing more of their schoolmates.
On May 20, 1998, 15year-old Kipland (Kip) Phillip Kinkel was expelled from school for possessing a loaded firearm. His father, Bill Kinkel, a 59 year-old Spanish teacher picked him up from the police station, where they stopped at a Burger King on the drive home.
Train the Plan
09/21/08, by Brad 
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Categories: Best Practices, Severe Weather, Lockdown, Bomb Threat/IED, Public Health/Pandemic, Threat Assessment An untested and untrained plan is little more than theory. After developing school/college emergency plans a training program should be designed to educate students, parents, teachers, staff, crisis team members and administrators in threat assessment procedures, emergency response, management policies and procedures. Once training is implemented, exercises should be conducted to test the plans and training.
Currently, most educational facilities have adopted a training philosophy that embraces performing extremely well under reasonable conditions, rather than performing reasonably well under extreme conditions. For example:
Lockdown, Weather, Earthquake & Fire Drills Deficiencies
Staff has advanced knowledge of the exact time of the drill and the drill occurs when all students are in the classroom.
Solution
After two or three successful drills, limit advanced knowledge to the day of the event and implement the drills during transition times. Note: Avoid conducting drills during meal periods, due to the costs associates with missed lunches. To test response, set up a mock lunch period with students and staff.
Once you have your drills up and running, it is time to conduct training exercises. Tabletop & functional exercises use vivid scenarios, guided by experienced and certified facilitators, to engage participants in discussions of how they would respond to hypothetical events. Tabletops are designed to be a non-threatening and relatively low cost approach to validating capabilities. Use Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) based exercises to explore and validate plans, identify logical or structural conflicts or gaps in those plans and develop specific areas for further study and improvement. Scenario should be coordinated/developed with local emergency management and public safety.
Stay safe
Brad
This post is provided by SafePlans (www.safeplans.com), an all-hazards preparedness solution including emergency plans, staff training, and detailed site mapping.
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