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Home › Articles › Back to Preschool Headquarters › Project Protection

Project Protection

School Security After 9/11

By Shel Franco

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"In the event that the terrorist alert moves from code orange to code red, schools will be in session."

Had it really come to this, an elementary school newsletter, breaking from its traditional announcements of student accomplishments and teacher notices to address the latest developments in school security? As I read over my kindergartener's April newsletter with a bit more interest, I realized it certainly had come to this all over the United States.

Robyn Zeiders lives in a small Northwest Pennsylvania town, far from the New York City likelihood of ever experiencing terrorism firsthand, but even her son's small private school has updated its disaster policy to include much more than tornado and fire drills.

What's Going On?
In early March the U.S. Department of Education along with the Office of Homeland Security announced a new section on the U.S. Department of Education's Web site. The new section exists to help school officials plan for any emergency, including natural disasters, violent incidents and terrorist acts.

"I saw a news story about the police departments, fire departments and other organizations getting together with the local school officials to develop the new school security plan and put it into action," Zeiders says. "It was a little overwhelming scary even."

Preparing for the Worst
As I read over that newsletter, I felt a pit in my stomach. My first reaction was fear home-schooling was looking better and better. My next reaction was curiosity: How were my local public safety officials going to keep my child safe?

According to Emergency Planning for America's Schools, your school district should be doing the following:

Prevention/Mitigation:
  • Conduct an assessment of each school building. Identify those factors that put the building, students and staff at greater risk, such as proximity to rail tracks that regularly transport hazardous materials or facilities that produce highly toxic material or propane gas tanks, and develop a plan for reducing the risk. This can include plans to evacuate students away from these areas in times of crisis and to reposition propane tanks or other hazardous materials away from school buildings.
  • Work with businesses and factories in close proximity to the school to ensure that the school's crisis plan is coordinated with their crisis plans.
  • Ensure a process is in place for controlling access and egress to the school. Require all persons who do not have authority to be in the school to sign in.
  • Review traffic patterns and where possible, keep cars, buses and trucks away from school buildings.
  • Review landscaping, and ensure buildings are not obscured by overgrowth of bushes or shrubs where contraband can be placed or persons can hide.
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