Planning for a crisis is a good idea

Complete 2001 Editorial Archives
Complete 2000 Editorial Archives

School Administrative Unit 16 is as ready as it will ever be for an emergency. Thanks to the hard work of Adele Russman, a guidance counselor at the Lincoln Street School in Exeter, the SAU is finally developing a response plan to keep students safe in the event of an emergency, whether it be a disaster or a violent shooting similar to those that have plagued American schools.

The goal of the emergency response plan is to keep everyone in the school as calm as possible.

Russman should be commended for leading the effort to create such a plan in light of the violence other unsuspecting schools have faced.

Our schools are obligated to make every effort to create a safe environment for students and staff and find ways to handle emergencies and disasters.

The state is aiming to have response plans in place throughout all New Hampshire schools by next year.

Russman's plan divides the staff at each school in SAU 16 (Brentwood, East Kingston, Exeter, Kensington, Newfields, and Stratham) into two teams, known as A and B. Team A's role is to access and develop a plan in the event of an emergency and direct the next course of action. Team B's role, on the other hand, is rumor control or to disseminate information to staff and students quickly to avoid panic.

A job description is assigned to each staff member. The rules are contained in a folder which is specific to each classroom. Each contains a list of students, music, math and reading schedules of those students, emergency contact information, a copy of the routes to all exits, one green flag, one red flag and a pen. There is even a plan in place just in case a teacher is away from the classroom when an emergency occurs. In that case the faculty member would be able to access one of eight master folders mounted throughout the building containing the critical information.

According to Russman's plan, if a class is forced to evacuate the building for any reason, the teacher will just pick up the folder and leave the building. Once each class has arrived at the designated shelter location, the teacher is then required to raise a green flag if all students have been accounted for, and a red flag if any are missing. Staff members designated as runners will know immediately if a student is missing.

This unique emergency plan would evacuate the school, place students and staff in a safe location, and establish a building lock-down.

All too often schools have the attitude, "It won't happen here." But as we have seen over and over again, violence and other disasters can happen anywhere.

Schools nation-wide should be required to develop a crisis plan as Russman has done.

Of course, no emergency plan — no matter how well it is executed — is the answer to preventing a tragedy. However, developing a plan such as Russman's is perhaps one of the best ways school staff and students can prepare themselves in the event of an emergency.

No one is ever prepared for a Columbine-like incident, but it's better to have some response plan in place than nothing at all.

We can only hope Russman's plan will never have to be used.

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