Lowell Wolff, Wolff Consulting, LLC701-235-4466
School Emergency Response: From 1 District to
16 Districts
Session Overview
1) Cass Clay Unified School Response What is it? How did it happened? Why would you want one of your own?
BREAK
2) Stuff that worked very well
In the beginning… January 1995 – Assistant Superintendent for
Communication & Planning Planning now includes Emergency Response
March 21, 1995 – School Shooting at Red Lake Monthly meeting with the City of Fargo Chief Magnus & Lt. Paul Laney
Summer 1995 Develop the plan Train with first responders Develop the first training event – 120 staff members
Fast Forward Summer 2008 – training opened to 16 School Districts in two counties in two different States
The beginnings – assessing Fargo
Four stages Prevention/mitigation –anti-bullying
programs, School Resource Officers, CPTED etc.
Preparedness – plan equip train
Response – can your staff execute the plan?
Recovery – including reunification of students and parents, counseling etc.
Security
TeacherTeams
Aide
School IC
Dispatch (First responders) and DO if applicable
Staff and Students
BuildingMaintenance
Liaison
School Incident Command Structure
Develop the Response Plan What are the situations you are most likely
to experience? Jointly develop protocols to those
situations Use NIMS concept of Incident Command
structure Incident Commander, Aide, Liaison, Security
Organize manual to anticipate “the next move”
Unify vocabulary + simplify see flip-charts
Plan for a transfer of command authority from building to first responder’s incident command
Equip everyone Building command kit Building medical kit Classroom “to go” kit EOC (Emergency Operations
Center) = District office now provides resources
An internal “911”
Train everyone District emergency manager trains
with first responders Annually train teams (and backups)
from each building - August in FARGODOME
Building Emergency Response Team trains staff in their building
Make sure first responders know your unified response plan!
Building the response capacity The purpose is to build our collective
capacity to respond to the unexpected Don’t practice situations that will never
happen Use drills to train for the physical
aspects Use tabletops & scenarios to train the
mind As the response capacity builds,
decrease advance warning increase distractions.
2005-2006: Improvement Cycle Test and refine protocols…
Cameras, radios, 984 lock sets, single point of
entry automated lockdown equipment,
special needs evacuation chairs, Test, evaluate and refine
response protocols
And then… Shift Happens Lt. Laney becomes Cass County Sheriff
Laney Campaign addressed school safety &
emergency response Whether you live in Tower City, ND or
Hawley, MN, when you need a SWAT Team Bomb squad Hostage and rescue service Regional HazMat Team
The same team shows up!
Aha! If law enforcement is training using the
same techniques and contributing employees to regional specialty teams…
Does every school district need a different emergency response plan?
Unified School Response A meeting of lead law enforcement
officials and school superintendents – February 2007 Explained Fargo’s plan and its
development Adopt one plan (common
vocabulary, response protocols etc.) Adapt it to your buildings
Considerations and Debate
Some schools had no plans Some schools had well-developed plans
North Dakota required no drills or exercises Minnesota required five lockdowns per
year Can we reconcile these
differences? Yes, through district policy
Transition Time… Agreed to try it – with some arm
twisting! Lots of equipment to buy
<$3/student Back-to-Basics training sessions Demos to understand the reasoning
behind the protocols Red River Regional Bomb Squad Red River SWAT Team Fargo Fire Dept & Regional Hazmat
Sharing of best practices and lessons learned from our collective experiences
Development of response protocols suggested by first responders
Regular training, response evaluations and revisions to response protocols
Examples of some benefits…
Benefits to a regional plan Development and use of common
vocabulary Classroom Emergency Response Tools
flipchart Provide annual training for Building
Emergency Response Teams from all school districts
From Lt. Col. Dave Grossman to Dr. Bernie James
Training for regional pool of substitute teachers
Training for new teachers Training for new members of a Building
Emergency Response Team
Mutual Aide agreements between districts
Joint purchasing such as Merigen Medical
MinnKota SRO/Juvenile Justice Quarterly meetings Google discussion group
Policy generation – security cameras to AED to sex offender policies
Formal emergency response evaluations
Hosting of NASRO Training Advanced SRO Training Interview & Interrogation Techniques for the
SRO Active Shooter Training – week long, 1,000
rounds Development of reunification plan
and template for other districts Threat assessment team
Development and/or team on loan Internal “911” + first response relay
CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) audits
All Fargo Public School Buildings All Rural Cass Buildings
CPTED training for area architects Unified response to incidents occurring on
a bus All law enforcement entities, school and
metro buses MyStuff database to register student
property
CASS COUNTY, ND
Central Cass Public School District
Fargo Catholic Schools Network
Fargo Public School District Hope-Page Public School
District Kindred Public School
District Mapleton Elementary
School Maple Valley Public School
District Oak Grove & Grace
Lutheran Schools West Fargo Public School
District
CLAY COUNTY, MN
Barnesville Public School District
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Public School District
Hawley Public School District
Moorhead Public School District
Park Christian School Ulen-Hitterdal Public
School District School District
Leadership Transition:
From to
Retirement – July 1, 2011 What holes does this leave? Superintendents, Chiefs, Sheriffs
meet Cass County Sheriff’s Office emerges
as the lead agency
Sgt. Tara Morris, Cass County Sheriff’s
Office [email protected]
Resources
Lowell Wolff, Wolff Consulting, LLC701-235-4466
www.casscountynd.gov/county/depts/sheriff • Click on logo