Pa. Board Approves New Emergency Plans
Nov. 22--The Hempfield Area school board on Monday adopted a new plan for responding to emergencies within the district and approved a contract for an app to send out emergency notifications.
The school board unanimously approved the district's updated Emergency Operations Plan, which outlines how the district will respond to various emergencies and gives first responders information on each building's layout and roster of students and staff.
"We've been working pretty aggressively for the last three years," said Superintendant Barbara Marin. She said the district has held active-shooter drills, expanded its training for students and staff on how to respond to someone with a gun, and started conducting short monthly "tabletop" exercises where principals go through how they would respond to different emergency scenarios.
The district worked on the new plan with Robert Gerlach, Hempfield Township's emergency management coordinator and the local coordinator for a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency grant to update emergency plans around the region. It has broad sections defining everyone's responsibility in an emergency, then instructions on general responses like lockdowns, evacuations and parental notifications.
It also includes guides for how to respond to individual events, like a shooting, bomb threat, weather emergency or hazardous materials situation, Gerlach said.
"Luckily, knock on wood, none of these plans have ever been put into effect," he said.
Because of the sensitive nature of the plans, only the broad-level descriptions of responsibilities are public, he said.
The board also approved a contract Monday with Columbus, Ohio-based Safeguard Risk Solutions, who will provide an app for sending administrators, teachers and support staff step-by-step instructions for implementing the emergency plan, depending on their job and situation.
"The software puts the plans and the checklists of everything to do into the hands of everybody," Gerlach said. "In an emergency, the first thing people reach for is their cellphone, not a binder."
"It will always be accessible, even if they have to evacuate," Marin said. "And it can easily be updated; it's a living document."
Officials did not have a cost estimate for that contract Monday, as the district was still finalizing how many people would be licensed to install and use it, Marin said.
Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724 836 6660 or msantoni@tribweb.com.
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