First responders include teachers, janitors, secretaries
 
By Joy Campbell
Messenger-Inquirer
Copyright 2007 Messenger-Inquirer
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

OWENSBORO, Ky. —About 150 first responders for Daviess County Public Schools participated in training Wednesday at College View Middle School to test their preparedness for crisis situations.

The crowd included a cross section of employees, such as principals, front-office secretaries, head custodians, teachers and family resource coordinators who serve on emergency response teams for their respective buildings.

Added to the mix were central office administrators and several emergency services personnel.

"I hope and pray we never have to encounter some of these situations, but at the same time, we have to be prepared," said Capt. Jeff Jones of the Daviess County Sheriff's Department.

The keynote presenter was Edward A. Clarke, former director of the Department of School Safety and Security for Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Md.

Clarke talked about the four critical phases and cycles of school crisis management: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

He also led participants in "table-top exercises" in which teams were given crisis scenarios and challenged to develop plans for dealing with them.

One such crisis involved an angry parent with a weapon who enters his child's classroom where the teacher and 20 students are gathered. The parent is mad at the teacher about how she handled a situation a week ago in which his son was assaulted by another student.

In each emergency situation, groups had to identify strategies, assignments, steps, decisions and actions they would take to respond. They also identified any resources that would be needed.

At some point, new information was interjected into the mock exercises, and teams were asked to respond to it.

Lora Wimsatt, the district's public relations coordinator, talked to the participants about crisis communication, and psychologist Therese Vali discussed de-escalation techniques for dealing with angry people.

Wednesday's training was funded by a portion of a grant the district received through the Green River Region Education Co-operative, said Chuck Green, Daviess County's director of student services.

Eleven districts, including Daviess County, were awarded a share of nearly $500,000 to use in shoring up their schools' emergency response plans and coordinating with local, state and national emergency management agencies.

The district also will participate in a full-scale, communitywide public safety simulation exercise starting at 9 a.m. July 9 at Daviess County High School.

Officials with the Daviess County Emergency Management Agency, in cooperation with the sheriff's department, are coordinating that event. Other agencies set to take part are the Owensboro Police Department, Kentucky State Police, the Daviess County and Owensboro fire departments, Owensboro Medical Health System and the Red Cross.