Schools alter emergency plans after Sept. 11

Administrators in the Olentangy school district in Lewis Center, Ohio, spent the summer debating whether to require lockdown drills in their nine schools. The Sept. 11 attacks helped them make up their minds.

The drills are now as regular as test runs for fires or tornadoes, with teachers keeping students in secured classrooms with the shades drawn.

"We were checking our existing plan to see if we were prepared if, God forbid, something were to happen," school superintendent William Reimer said. "Then Sept. 11 happened and it reinforced the need to be as prepared as we can."

Since Sept. 11, schools in Cape Girardeau County have been doing precautionary emergency drills, but school officials say the drills were in place well before the terrorist attacks.

Central Junior High principal Gerald Richards said his school has been doing lockdown drills for the past five years.

"We have drills scheduled throughout the year," Richards said. "They cover a multitude of things from earthquakes and fires to tornadoes and intruders."

Richards said to start one drill he announces a code over the intercom which teachers recognize as the beginning of an emergency lockdown. While teachers lock their doors from the inside of the classroom and wait for further instructions, the police are notified.

Richards said the drill is done at least once each semester to make sure teachers and faculty know the correct procedures.

David Gross, principal at North Elementary in Jackson, Mo., said his kindergarten through fifth-grade students also take part in regular drills throughout the year on several emergency situations.

'Put the screws down'

Around the country, schools are adopting new safety measures and adjusting emergency plans that were designed primarily to deal with natural disasters or student violence like the 1999 Columbine massacre.

School officials in Buffalo, N.Y., required 5,000 people attending a high school football game on Thanksgiving to walk through metal detectors, a procedure that will remain in place indefinitely for major events.

"We've put the screws down a little bit," said Bill Jackson, security and safety director for the Buffalo school system.

In October, schools in Fraser, Mich., started keeping exterior doors locked instead of letting visitors use the front door and expecting them to stop at the office. An adult door monitor admits visitors.

"It was supposed to be a temporary thing, but what happened was the community appreciated it and everyone felt more comfortable with it," said Tom Jager, principal of Fraser's Eisenhower Elementary School.

State education departments, including those in Ohio, New York and Kentucky, have encouraged schools to review their crisis plans.

The Center for School Safety, based in Kentucky, this month plans to begin revamping model emergency plans, which most districts follow, to include instructions bioterrorism, chemical weapons and mass infections.

"School violence like Columbine is terrorism but only on a local level. Now we have to address a different kind of terrorism," said Jon Akers, center director.

Curt Lavarello, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers in Boynton Beach, Fla., said more schools are working with police and fire departments. Some are looking into whether there is a high-risk target nearby, such as a historical landmark, a military installation or a nuclear plant.