By Becky Orr
The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A homeland security instructor on Tuesday stressed the importance of plans to respond to school emergencies.
Martin Roark taught a class of 23 educators and school resource officers from Laramie County School District 1.
Most schools are required to document preparation for an emergency or crisis, he said.
Tuesday’s class dealt mainly with developing a plan to prevent and respond to possible bomb threats and incidents.
The Office of Homeland Security offers the class free to schools throughout Wyoming. New Mexico Tech developed the course.
A bomb plan is just one component of an effective emergency response plan for schools, he said. The other parts of the plan should focus on missing students, weapons on campus and natural disasters.
Shauna Smith, at-risk coordinator for LCSD1, said the course helps educators be prepared about the potential for risk.
Attacks on schools are not new, Roark said. The first recorded attack in America occurred in 1764 at a school in Pennsylvania.
In May 1927, a school board member set off bombs at an elementary school in Michigan. He killed 15 people and injured 58.
Roark said the purpose of Tuesday’s class is to teach people to effectively respond.
“We want to better educate school systems and develop a plan to deal with those attacks.”
An effective emergency management plan deals with prevention, preparation, response and recovery, he said.
“You guys are the first responders to anything that goes on in the school,” he told the teachers and principals. Educators have stopped the last two or three incidents of school violence nationwide.
A plan spells out who’s in charge and what each person needs to do.
Roark talked about searching schools after a bomb threat. He cautioned that an improvised explosive device could look like anything innocent. He then held up a paper cup as an example.
People who find something they suspect might be an IED should not use cell phones to notify authorities unless they are at least 300 feet away from the device, he said.
They should not use cell phones or anything that uses transmitters unless they are that far away. They would be safe to use a land-line phone, he said.
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