School Emergency Preparedness Plans Keep Students Safe

By Meredith Hines-Dochterman, Reporter

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By Aaron Hepker

Story Created: Aug 19, 2010 at 3:14 PM CST

Story Updated: Aug 19, 2010 at 3:14 PM CST

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - OK parents, it’s a new school year. You bought the supplies, your kids have lunch money in their accounts and you know where they’ll be when school dismisses. But do you know what they’ll do in case of an emergency?

“A bus accident, tornado, water main break — we have a plan in place for almost every event you can think of,” said Laurel Day, the Cedar Rapids school district’s assistant to the superintendent.

Day oversees emergency plans for Cedar Rapids schools. She also represents Linn County schools at the Linn County Emergency Management Agency.

School emergency preparedness plans exist on several levels. There are district plans, which detail everything from evacuation to temporary school locations, and then there are school plans, which are specific to each building’s location and layout.

School students and staff regularly practice safety drills including fire, inclement weather and emergencies that may pose a threat to student safety.

Linn County schools have an extra layer of planning because of the NextEra Energy Duane Arnold Energy Center. Emergency drills are practice four times a year and reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

All school emergency plans are reviewed by districts annually and are updated as needed. Districts file these plans with local law enforcement officials, fire departments and evacuation locations, among others.

Parents, however, are not allowed to view them.

By law, school districts are allowed to keep their emergency plans confidential, particularly evacuation procedures, safety procedures, security codes and passwords, and emergency preparedness procedures. This is to protect students if and when an emergency occurs. For instance, a district would not want to publicize where students will be evacuated if there is a bomb threat. To do so would put make that location unsafe.

This does not mean parents are left in the dark if an emergency happens. Schools have a communication system in place to notify parents and guardians.

“We use OneNotify, which parents can sign up for and receive text messages with important information in the district,” said Laura Mallicoat, spokeswoman for the Linn-Mar school district.

Automated telephone calls are common among Eastern Iowa districts. Schools also provide emergency information as needed on district Websites and through the media.

“Iowa is a local-control state, so emergency plans are up to the local school boards,” said Elaine Watkins-Miller, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Education.

Watkins-Miller added that the state showed a strong response to emergencies in 2008. The Aplington-Parkersburg school district grappled with a tornado leveling most of Parkersburg in May. A month later, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City schools coped with flood waters.

“Iowa dealt with the significant disasters and schools were able to start the school year on time,” Watkins-Miller said. “They may have had to relocate students to different schools, to different communities, but there was a school open for them to continue their education.”

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