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EMA working with schools on response plans
by Stuart Clark, Tipton Conservative · News · March 15, 2018
Emergency Management Director Tim Malott wants to be proactive in dealing with the intruders in Cedar County schools, but said the work should focus on planning and prevention.
Malott met with school leaders, mayors, council members and city administrators on March 2 and 7 for informal sessions on safety systems within schools and he will meet with many of the same people again on March 22.
While the Iowa legislature takes up a bill that requires schools to create security plans and address active shooters, Malott said local officials need to discuss making schools safer.
“We don’t farm, run businesses or the media the way we did in the past,” he said, and the same applies to schools.
Schools now work together to share safety information and engage in more discussions about protecting children.
With a focus on prevention, Malott said administrators and other officials talked about different methods and equipment available now that can block doors and increase the use of security systems, such as cameras.
Malott said much of what gets done or not comes down to money. Each school must decide how to spend limited dollars in the best way to protect everyone in the school.
That involves lots of planning and Malott said that while some people want immediate action on security, there must be work done to ensure that it is done properly.
He praised the Durant school district for being very proactive in planning for incidents and said West Branch was also ahead of others in dealing with situations involving a school intruder.
In the free exchange of information at the workshops, Malott said everyone agreed that more planning was needed, with increased sharing of ideas.
Malott called it a yearlong process involving schools, law enforcement, fire and EMS, who have all worked well together in the past.
For those that think all efforts should be focused on active shooters, Malott presented an Iowa School Safety Flip Chart showing potential issues for schools. They include assaults, demonstrations, fires, hostage situations, armed assailant, suicide threat or attempt, sexual assault, hazardous materials, medical emergencies, threats, weapons, suspicious packages or mail, intruders and bomb threats.
In the future, schools may be required to brief every student on safety issues at a school assembly, while also informing parents on steps that have been taken to increase safety measures.
Asked how far along emergency management and schools were in a nine inning game, Malott said it was only the top of the second inning, “with a long way to go.”
And, while there is a great deal of focus on active shooters following the Parkland, Fla. incident, Malott said credit should be given for schools that have been working on plans for as long as three or four years.
Discussion at the workshops was not designed to address issues like arming teachers or details on how people gain entry to schools.
Malott said each school would have to deal with those issues in the future, including things like how far into a school a person can get before meeting with a staff member. It could require people being buzzed into secure areas before being allowed into the general student population.
Other issues down the road could include law enforcement at every single school event and the use of metal detectors. Again, Malott said everything discussed would involve the expenditure of dollars.
The emergency management director said he will continue his efforts to plan on making schools a safe place to be and so far he says no one is pushing back. “There will never be a perfect plan. It is a continuing building project.”
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