From Deseret News archives:
Preparation for disasters ongoing for Utah schools
The area executive director and chairwoman of the district's safe schools risk management committee used to frequent Platte Canyon High School in her work as a National Education Association representative in Colorado.
"I know that school, I know that town, I know these people," said Naylor, who lived and worked in the area in the late 1980s and early 1990s. " I went to dinner with the teachers, visited with the superintendent... It kind of hits home, you know?"
The fatal shootings in a public school raises the question: Are Utah schools prepared to prevent such a horrifying situation?
Jordan, Davis and Provo district officials say they are prepared and continue to train to handle the worst.
In the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, Utah schools scrutinized emergency and security plans. Some urban districts started installing cameras in schools. Former Gov. Mike Leavitt set up a statewide hotline to anonymously report suspicious behavior that might lead to violence.
While there was no rush to install metal detectors, as seen in some big inner-city schools across the country, Provo School District does have hand-held wands to use at athletic events and if school principals suspect weapons on individual students, said Greg Hudnall, Provo School District's student services director.
"Schools are about the safest places in America ... but if somebody does come to school and wants to do harm we can't be naive about it," said David Turner, principal of North Layton Junior High where a two-day hostage drill was held in 2005. "We don't want to be lucky, we want to be good."
Jordan District, like Davis, Salt Lake City and Provo, has worked with police agencies to draw up emergency preparedness plans. Jordan's "incident command system" has all schools on the same page in what to do in case of fire, earthquakes, bomb threats and acts of violence, similar to Wednesday's hostage situation.
Every adult in the building has a job, and other adults they're to account for. Teachers are to account for their classes, and have special color-coded and communication systems to notify the principal which students are missing. Principals are to wear a special vest in emergencies so police or firefighters can quickly spot and work with them.
Emergency plans are practiced monthly in elementary schools, and four times a year in middle and high schools according to state law, Naylor said.
