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School crisis plan to change as needed

The Hot Springs County School District was recently included in a statewide emergency situation that was eventually determined to be fake.

However, that does raise some questions as to how secure our own schools are and what plans are in place in the various buildings.

“First, let me say student safety is our top priority,” said Superintendent Dustin Hunt as we began our discussion on school security.

The district currently has a crisis plan in place, but with upcoming changes to the physical buildings and security mandates sent down by the state, the crisis plan will be a fluid document, changing consistently as each new piece is added to the security puzzle.

According to Hunt, there are “panic” buttons in the office of each school and soon, they will have the ability to lock all the doors simultaneously, instantaneously.

Maintenance supervisor Jere Apland has been working closely with the IT department on a two-way communications system between the administration building, schools and even the bus barn. This allows Hunt to relay messages to all of the schools and have the busses on standby in the event of an emergency.

The system was used recently during the statewide emergency call and Hunt gives huge kudos to Jerry Bowman, his drivers and bus aides.

“Just as a precaution we mobilized our drivers and aides,” Hunt said. “Jerry (Bowman) had his drivers and crew ready in less than 20 minutes. They were all there, ready to go.”

Those with students in the district are undoubtedly aware of the phone system used to alert parents about the situation. If it had been an actual emergency, parents would have been contacted through the phone system with instructions on where to pick up their children.

These items are great to have in place, but there are definitely more safety measures slated for installation in the next few years.

Two staff members attended ALICE (Alert Lockdown Inform Counter Evacuate) training this summer. Those staff members are now certified ALICE trainers and will be working with the remainder of the staff on the proper procedures in the event of a live-shooter incident.

Having two certified trainers on staff not only ensures student safety and staff knowledge but saves the district money by being able to hold ALICE training for new staff right here at home rather than having to send them out of state to attend classes.

Each of the buildings continue drills with students on a monthly basis that include not only fire drills, but both high and low lockdown drills. Coming soon will be active shooter drills, tornado warning drills and statewide threat and communications drills.

As each new safety precaution is added, the protocols will change.

Barriers are planned at the entrance of each building, high school, middle school and elementary school. The barriers are a deterrent to keep someone from gaining entrance to the building by smashing their vehicle through the front doors.

Hunt said they want the barriers to not only be effective, but aesthetically pleasing as well.

Apland has been working with the State Architect’s Office to develop the barriers, but in the midst of planning the funding changed on a state level. The district was determined to have this security measure in place they had set aside major maintenance funds to see it come to fruition.

Now, there are mandates in place coming down from the state level that will pay for the barriers and other items on the security list.

Hunt said that is the thing that has been the hardest for him as superintendent.

“Nothing happens quickly,” he said. “We wait for funding. We wait for approval. We want it to go quickly, but we have to be patient and wait for all the pieces to fall into place.”

Hunt also said they have had a lot of input from local law enforcement, staff and security people.

“We just need to find the pieces that work for us and we feel comfortable with,” he said.

For some, this may seem like a lot of change in a very short time, but Apland said he had looked at the list of items other schools are preparing for and Hot Springs County is well ahead of the security game in comparison to other districts.

“We are better prepared than most of the schools in the state,” he said.

Eventually, there will be things like locked exterior doors where parents and visitors will need to be “buzzed” through, a card system for staff to enter buildings and other items that will require changes to protocols, but Hunt has a strong desire to keep the community informed on those changes as they happen.

 

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