Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

County schools havea disaster plans in place

Once the shock of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks wore off, response began at the three school districts in Nevada County.

All districts have disaster/emergency plans in place, while two (Emmet and Nevada) have tornado shelters available for students and the community.

Hyacinth Deon, interim superintendent for the Prescott School District, said each of the three principals hold drills in their buildings.

School personnel, she said, are also more aware of visitors than they were in the past. Visitors to any of the three campuses are required to sign in at the office of the school they're visiting.

Prescott High School, she said, has had to use its emergency plan, as a natural gas leak forced evacuation of the campus.

The district, she said, has a flow chart showing the chain of command, with the main thrust being to get the information into the curriculum so the students will be better prepared in case of an emergency.

Prescott's district also has "short-forms" showing the chain of command. These color-coded forms are kept by the teachers to be used should an emergency occur.

The plan is not specifically for terrorist attack, but different emergencies in general  such as gang fights, an intruder with a weapon or severe weather conditions.

Prescott's administrative personnel is able to remain in contact via radios all are required to carry.

This year the PHS has designated two periods for parent contact, while there is one such period at McRae Middle School. The idea is to keep parents in the loop as to what's going on at these schools.

Deon said several members of the staff have been trained and certified in CPR and first aid.

The staff also undergoes safety management training on how to handle blood and other pathogens, she said.

At Nevada, distance is a primary concern as the Rosston campus is about 20 miles from any help at all.

Nevada, however, is fortunate as it's transportation director, Jim Cross, is also the county's coordinator for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM).

In addition, when the building was under construction, said Rick McAfee, Nevada superintendent, Davis Benton, then a member of the Nevada School Board, insisted tornado shelters be constructed within the building's interior.

Benton is a retired meteorologist.

But, McAfee said, the biggest change since Sept. 11, 2001, has been internal, as individuals internalized the situation.

"We're all more aware of what's going on," he said, "whether it's terrorism, school violence, a natural disaster or man-made disaster."

He said district personnel went through training during the summer, and Nevada has a new crisis plan.

Under the new plan, McAfee said, emergencies are covered from all directions, including evacuations out of and into the building.

"Preparedness is the biggest change," he said. "We had a plan in the past, but took it for granted. Now we secure the building more in the evenings when school's out, and have a night watchman on duty every day."

Along with these changes, the district also installed cameras in the hallways and entrances to the building so administrative personnel will know what's going on at all times.

One benefit, McAfee said, is Nevada has a closed campus, so students can't leave without someone knowing. There is also only one entrance to the campus, with it being visible to office personnel.

However, he said, the one entrance is a double-edged sword, because should a tanker truck carrying hazardous materials wreck and spill its load, the liquid would run downhill toward the campus.

But, he added, there is a second way out for such emergencies, as students could be evacuated behind the baseball field to a dirt road .

"We've taken all possible situations into account," he said. "We have the ADEM coordinator on our staff and he's been trained to deal with different chemicals.

"I think our innocence is gone at all grade levels."

Nevada was the first school district in the state to have a tornado shelter built into its construction.

The shelters are four rooms at different ends of the facility. Each room has nine-inch concrete ceilings and 12-inch reinforced concrete walls. Overall, the rooms can hold up to 800 people, with the school's population currently at 400.

These shelters are also centrally located and have no windows.

Dr. Gene Ross, Emmet superintendent, said the district had installed cameras in classrooms before the attacks came on Sept. 11, but additional cameras have been installed in the gymnasium and out buildings, such as home economics.

The district is having a tornado shelter built on campus, with construction in its final stages.

Dr. Ross said the shelter can be used by the district and community, as the need arises.

Because of student population growth, however, the shelter will also be divided into four separate classrooms.

According to Dr. Ross, the tornado shelter is being built to withstand an F-5 twister. An F-5 has winds from 250 miles per hour and above.

He said the shelter will be able to hold a total of 500 people.