A School Safety Plan for ALL Schools in Pickens County
April 15, 2008
Sgt. Rick
Clark is the only certified instructor in “Patrol Response to Active
Shooter” by the National Tactical
Officer’s Association in Pickens County. Sgt. Clark has instructed and certified police officers at Clemson University
and the City of Liberty in how to respond to a school emergency that involves a
shooter or threats in our schools. The
Liberty Police Department was among the first departments in Pickens County to be
completely trained in responding to school emergencies. We must have a leader as Sheriff who can
train and certify all officers, whether city police officers or county
deputies, in how to respond to protect our children in every school in our
county. The children in the schools of
Pickens County deserve a comprehensive safety plan that is lead by the Sheriff
of Pickens County. THE SHERIFF IS THE
CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER OF PICKENS COUNTY. The Sheriff must be able to be on the front
lines protecting our citizens.
Relying on, “It will never happen here in Pickens County”, as a public
safety policy is not good enough in the year 2008! Our children and teachers deserve better!
Rick Clark’s School Safety Plan
Under Sheriff
Clark, school safety will be a top priority. How much longer can we go without a major incident in one of our schools
with today’s headlines the way they are? The tragedy is coming. Is the
Pickens County Sheriff’s Office ready for it? The answer is NO!
Ask our
current Sheriff when was the last time there was a full school emergency drill
in Pickens County? There will be regular
public safety drills in schools across the County under Sheriff Clark. These drills must include deputies, police, fire, EMS, rescue squads, and the Emergency Management Division of Pickens County!
Sheriff
Clark’s school safety plan is based on the US Department of Education’s:
“PRACTICAL
INFORMATION ON CRISIS PLANNING: A GUIDE FOR SCHOOLS AND
COMMUNITIES”
“Knowing how
to respond quickly and a crisis is critical to ensuring the safety of our
schools and students. The midst of a
crisis is not the time to start figuring out who ought to do what. At that
moment, everyone involved – from top to bottom – should know the drill and know
each other.” --Margaret Spellings, US Secretary of Education
The key to any plan is planning,
communication, and practice. Briefly,
below are the 4 phases of Sheriff Clark’s plan for our schools.
Mitigation/Prevention
Mitigation and Prevention addresses
what schools and districts can do to reduce or eliminate risk to life and
property before a crisis happens. The
Pickens County School District has done many of these things; it is up to the
SHERIFF to know and test these factors for each school!
- Establishing access control procedures and providing
IDs for students, staff, and visitors to prevent a dangerous intruder from
coming onto school grounds.
- Conducting various safety drills can reduce injury
to students and staff because they will know what to do to avoid harm.
- Planning responses to and training for incidents
involving hazardous situations and other dangerous scenarios are important
for schools.
Preparedness
- Coordinate school crisis plan with School District
and have every Police Officer and Deputy trained in school crisis
response.
- Define Roles and Responsibilities of all
stakeholders involved. Simply, who
does what? This has to be
practiced.
- Train both school and emergency officials in NIMS
ICS (National Incident Management System Incident Command System).
- Develop Communication Plan for both internal and
external entities.
- Finalize Evacuation, Lockdown, and Accountability
procedures. Again, it must be
practiced.
- Practice,
Practice, Practice!
Response
A crisis is
the time to follow an emergency plan; not make one up!
- Assess situation and choose appropriate
response. An over response can be
as dangerous as an under response.
- Activate the Crisis Plan that has been practiced by
school officials and emergency officials.
- Decide on evacuation of lockdown procedures.
- Activate the external communication system with
parents and media.
- Document all actions!
Recovery
- Assemble Crisis Intervention Team
- Return to learning environment as soon as possible
to restore “normalcy”.
- Focus on physical as well emotional status.
- Have a meeting with parents. Talk and inform
stakeholders about what happened.
- Evaluate crisis response and produce written
critique for all to learn from.
Our Sheriff... Our Future For Our Schools!
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