Be Prepared

Crisis plan helps AISD deal with unexpected

By KATHIE GREER
The Amarillo Independent

Keeping students in Amarillo Independent School District safe during a crisis situation requires extensive planning, cooperation and trust.

Amarillo High School Cluster Director Dr. Gary Angell is responsible for the district's crisis management plan.

"Our plan covers procedures and protocol for a wide range of scenarios," he said. "They include situations involving intruders, a missing child, the death of a teacher or student, weather-related events and several other emergency and critical situations."

AISD's plan was first created more than a decade ago, prior to the Columbine incident, Angell said. It was revised last year with money from a grant for school security.

As part of the grant program, Angell and representatives from fire and police departments, parents, teachers and administrators attended three Department of Education-sponsored conferences.

The district's crisis management manual was revised and updated based on information that came from the conferences.

"Every school has a copy of the manual," Angell said. "The table of contents presents possible situations.

The effectiveness of the planning and procedures was tested by the recent wildfires that swept across north Amarillo.

Pat Williams, the Caprock Cluster Director, was at the Amarillo Area Center for Advanced Learning campus the afternoon of the fires.

"There was never any danger to the students at AACAL," Williams said. "But the fire began near that campus and we put about 200 kids on buses to be ready to evacuate as a precaution. We have contingency procedures at all schools and scenarios for almost any situation," he said.

Williams said AISD officials worked closely with the Police and Fire departments that afternoon. Each school has a designated area where students would be taken in the event of an evacuation. If the students had been taken away from the AACAL campus, they would have gone to Sam Houston Middle School, he said.

Pleasant Valley Elementary School on River Road, just east of Highway 287, was put on alert that afternoon. Staff members called parents to let them know that their children would have to be picked up immediately after school and that no afterschool program would be provided that day. Teachers were also ordered not to stay late to ensure their safety.

Even though the district plans for every contingency, poor communication and panicky parents can interfere with the job the police and firefighters are trying to do. In some cases, those facyors can create more of a hazard, said Cpl. Jerry Neufeld with the Crime Prevention Division of the Amarillo Police Department.

Neufeld used an incident a few weeks ago concerning the report of an intruder at Tascosa High School as an example.

After a report of a possible intruder carrying a large knife, the campus was put into "lockdown." During a lockdown, all the students remain inside a classroom, in a designated area, with the doors locked and the lights off to give the impression that the room is empty. They remain there while the campus is searched room by room and an "all clear" signal is given.

"The problem that day was that parents panicked and began arriving at the school," Neufeld said. "It's easy to understand that parents get scared and are concerned about the safety of their kids, but if they are trying to enter the school at the same time that we are looking for unauthorized strangers, it makes our job much more difficult."

The school system also has a plan for letting parents and the public know what's going on, said AISD spokeswoman Becky McIlraith. The school and the Police and Fire departments work closely with the local television and radio stations. Information is also posted to the district's Web site.

"The problem is timing," McIlraith said. "We want to keep the kids safe; that's our No. 1 priority. We also want to inform the parents, and sometimes the authorities are right in the middle of conducting their investigation. It poses a dilemma for us."

Another difficulty stems from the fact that the district wants to be sure it provides parents and the public with the most accurate information possible. And, in some cases, it also needs to provide the parents with instructions.

"The whole lockdown procedure outlined in the crisis manual is designed to keep the kids safe," she said. "Parents often get text messages from their kids, so they know something is going on almost immediately. The problem is that we don't always have accurate information at that time, and the rumors between the kids and their parents escalate."

The situation is compounded when parents begin bombarding the schools with phone calls. During a lockdown, the movements and activities of the office staff are also restricted. The staff can't always answer a call during lockdown, and could put their lives in jeopardy.

So what's the bottom line for parents if a crisis occurs at their child's school?

AISD officials and Neufeld said it boils down to trust.

"We have everyone's safety — students, teachers and parents — in mind," Neufeld said. "Parents need to trust law enforcement officials and school administrators to make the decisions best for everyone, without jeopardizing anyone's safety or our investigation," he said. "Turn on the TV or the radio and follow the instructions provided."

Neufeld used a standoff between an individual and the SWAT team at Sungate Apartments as an example of the plan's working well.

"Kids who lived there and who would have been arriving home during the situation were transported instead to Paramount Baptist Church. Their parents were notified. Red Cross volunteers, law enforcement officials and other emergency management personnel were on hand to provide for the safety of the kids and to allow us to do our job."

McIlraith agreed: "We're asking parents to accept our procedures and to trust that they have been designed to keep their kids as safe as possible."

Finally, Angell advised: "Don't give undue weight to the text messages you get from your kids. We'll communicate reliable information to the media and to you as quickly as we can. Sit tight and listen for that information. Absolutely no good can come from parents arriving at the school without direction in the midst of a crisis. It not only impedes the ability of emergency officials and school administrators to do their job, but it also creates additional safety concerns for everyone."

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Posted: March 20, 2008