Avagene Moore: Welcome to the EIIP Virtual Forum Round Table! Avagene Moore: We are pleased to have everyone with us today. We have a very interesting and timely topic for discussion and a very knowledgeable speaker to lead us in our dialogue. Avagene Moore: Before we start, I would like to remind you of any URLs that may be used. For example, GEMA's web site is http://www.state.ga.us/GEMA/ This is live link -- if you click on it, it will come up in your browser window. A very useful tool for demonstration purposes. Avagene Moore: The first part of our session will be handed over to our speaker. She will give us an overview of "Emergency Management in the School Setting --- Georgia Style." Then we will open the floor for questions. When we are ready for Q&A, I will review the procedures for keeping order in the Round Table. Avagene Moore: And now to our speaker today --- a representative of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), an official EIIP Partner. Avagene Moore: Karen Franklin serves as the State School Safety Coordinator for GEMA, Office of the Governor. Prior to this position, Karen was the Victim Services Director for the Western Judicial Circuit in Athens, Georgia. Avagene Moore: Karen serves as a national trainer on school safety and emergency operations planning. She presented for the International Association of Chiefs of Police and recently presented to the Georgia House of Representatives Committee on Student Discipline. Avagene Moore: Karen has spoken for the National Educational Services conference, the National Association of School Safety Law Enforcement Officers' annual conference, the Southeastern Association of School Business Officials, National Emergency Management Association and the National Organization of Victim Assistance. Avagene Moore: Karen participates in focus groups with the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, National Resource Center for Safe Schools, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Avagene Moore: Karen is a member of the National Organization of Victim Assistance, the National Victim Center and the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. Karen has served on the board of directors for the Georgia Crime Victim Advocacy Council. Karen studied Criminal Justice and Psychology at the University of Georgia. Avagene Moore: A very busy lady --- today, Karen is involved in an exercise outside the home office. I hope we will have time to hear a little about today's activities as well as the overall program she heads up. Avagene Moore: Karen, it is a pleasure to have you with us today. Ladies and gentlemen, Karen Franklin. Karen Franklin: Thank you so much, for the opportunity. Karen Franklin: The School Safety Project is one of the sections of the Consequence Management Section of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA). The Project staff includes four Area School Safety Coordinators who are assigned a geographic area of primary responsibility throughout Georgia. Karen Franklin: The Area Coordinators provide training, technical assistance, and incident response for school related issues. I have the privilege to serve as the project coordinator. GEMA also has on staff a school safety specialist who works in the area of research and development on school related issues. Karen Franklin: Our project provides services to the education, emergency management, and public safety communities of Georgia. We have provided training to 12,000 persons since January, 1999. Karen Franklin: Our project offers 8 field programs that we provide to local communities at no cost. These programs address the various phases of emergency management as they relate to school safety. Karen Franklin: Additionally, we offer classes entitled "School Bomb Threat Management" and a course entitled "Visual Screening for Weapons". Through our various training programs we speak to educators, public safety professionals, parents, students, community members, and the media. Karen Franklin: First, it is important to point out that safe school planning is a process and not a product. There is no one program a school can implement or one product that can be bought for a quick fix. Karen Franklin: Our approach to school safety is that it is a comprehensive process. Comprehensive school safety should address several key areas. Karen Franklin: The first area is educational programs. In order to promote a safe school environment, we must first educate all elements of the school community on what a safe school climate is. Karen Franklin: The school community should include students, parents, educators, school support personnel, emergency response personnel, community service agencies, criminal justice professionals, civic leaders, and other groups who have interaction with children in the community. Karen Franklin: The second area that must be addresses is the environmental safety considerations. One of the services our project provides to local communities is a school site survey. Karen Franklin: We facilitate a group of local emergency response personnel to walk thorough a school facility and the grounds to address specific considerations for an individual school. These considerations are for emergency planning, but also can address crime prevention and emergency response issues. Karen Franklin: This helps the emergency response agencies to gain insight into why school related emergencies can pose specific problems. Additionally it gives the opportunity for school personnel to learn what types of information and decision will be expected of them should an emergency occur. Karen Franklin: The third area of comprehensive school safety is that of threat/case management. It is critical that all factors of the community understand who, what, when, where, why, and how to report threats, tips, and other information. Karen Franklin: This is imperative if the school and law enforcement agencies are to be able to adequately provide a heightened level of security if a threat is made. According to the Center for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 28% of students in public and private school know someone who has brought a weapon to school in the Untied States. Karen Franklin: This is imperative if the school and law enforcement agencies are to be able to adequately provide a heightened level of security if a threat is made. According to the Center for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 28% of students in public and private school know someone who has brought a weapon to school in the Untied States. Karen Franklin: This differs greatly from the number of weapons that are actually seized. Having a sound threat assessment and information gathering protocol are critical in the prevention of school weapons incidents. Karen Franklin: The fourth area is emergency operations planning. Many schools do not understand how easily they can be affected by a crisis that occurs near the school or in the community. This may include a hazardous materials incident, or a natural disaster. School must plan beyond their four walls. Karen Franklin: Additionally, school should consider that if a crisis occurs, they might have to leave their campus and not be able to return for the duration of the crisis. This may be due to a chemical in the area, structural damage to the building, or a crime scene that must be processed. Karen Franklin: The fifth area of comprehensive school safety should address crisis response and recovery. This process must provide for the emotional safety of the affected persons and the community during a school related crisis. Karen Franklin: This must also include emergency responders, and those who support the emergency response process, such as dispatchers, transportation personnel, and community service personnel. Karen Franklin: Last year, the Georgia General Assembly passed into law a bill that requires all public schools in Georgia to have a comprehensive safety plan that addresses natural disasters, accidents, and human caused incidents. It requires school to collaborate with all disciplines of public safety, parents, students, school staff and community/civic leaders. Karen Franklin: The school must submit their plan to the local emergency management agency for local coordination. This law also mandates GEMA to provide training, and technical assistance on school safety related issues. Karen Franklin: In their plans, school must also address crisis that occur near the school, in the "School Safety Zone" as it is designates by law in Georgia (1,000 feet from the property line), and crises that occur during non-instructional hours. This legislation has had a significant impact on school safety in the state of Georgia. Karen Franklin: That is an overview of what our Project is about, I would be happy to take questions now. Avagene Moore: Thank you, Karen. Very interesting and aggressive program. Before we take the first question, a reminder of our procedures. ... Avagene Moore: Input a question mark (?) if you wish to ask a question or make a comment. Avagene Moore: First question of Karen, please. Robert McDaniel: ? david binder: ? Avagene Moore: Rob, please submit your question. Robert McDaniel: Isn't it true that comprehensive planning is lacking in schools? Avagene Moore: ? Karen Franklin: Yes, many school typically focus on one area, and forget issues such as special needs persons for example. Avagene Moore: David Binder, please. david binder: what percentage of high schools use school resource officers and how effective have they been in crime reduction? justindrittlerATU: ? Susan Frushour: ? Karen Franklin: In Georgia, 80% of our high schools have officers on campus. If officers are allowed to use true community policing tactics on campus, they use can be very simple. Avagene Moore: What type of reaction are you getting from the county school systems? Heavy demand/requests for training and assistance? Karen Franklin: For example, in Georgia several planned shootings and two planned bombings have been stopped through having officers on campus. Karen Franklin: We are getting great buy in from all aspects of the community, including students. Avagene Moore: Justin, you are next, please. justindrittlerATU: We had a school safety seminar at Arkansas Tech and talked about having teachers go in with the bomb squad to check their rooms for anything out of the ordinary. What do you think about this? (good/bad) Karen Franklin: We feel that it is no more appropriate to ask a school person to write a crisis plan, than to ask the fire chief to write the math curriculum. It must be a collaborative process. Karen Franklin: I am familiar with that conference, I think that trained school personnel should be involved in the search of facilities as they know their facility better than the responders; however, this should be a joint effort. Avagene Moore: Susan, your question, please. Amy Sebring: ? Susan Frushour: Do any of the schools have agreements with the local EMS CISM groups for immediate availability during Avagene Moore: CISM=? Don Hartley: ? Susan Frushour: critical incident stress management teams Avagene Moore: (thanks) Karen Franklin: We advocate that schools have mutual aid agreements with other school systems for needs such as substitute teachers, counselors, administrators and transportation personnel. Tom McAllister: ? Karen Franklin: Many systems will try to accommodate all of their own needs internally, and this is simply not practical in a large crisis. Jon Kavanagh: ? Avagene Moore: Amy, your question, please. Amy Sebring: What approach do you use to get parents involved? In what way do they participate? Karen Franklin: GA law requires that the school collaborate with parents on their crisis plans. Further, we teach programs for PTA groups, etc. Avagene Moore: Don Hartley, your turn, please. Don Hartley: Have there been any turf battles? Although school safety encompasses more than violence, some local law enforcement think they , not EMA should be primary on the issue. justindrittlerATU: ? Karen Franklin: Often, at the scene law enforcement is in charge; however, EMA can be a wealth of knowledge on emergency planning, family reunification, evacuation and sheltering, and overall coordination of resources. Avagene Moore: Tom M, please. Tom McAllister: Do you let your emergency people i.e., fire, police, EMS, tour your facilities to learn the layout and better train themselves to respond to an incident ? justindrittlerATU: At the seminar we also talked about having parents come in and be volunteers for a day at the school. Someone also brought up that what if that parent wants to hurt the kids or possibly even the teachers. Do you think that this is a good idea? Karen Franklin: We facilitate walk through discussions with them and allow them the opportunity to develop site plans. This is very important for tactical teams and EMS personnel. Susan Frushour: Susan Frushour? Karen Franklin: I think having a screening and accountability for all persons who are in the school is critical; however, having parents in the facility gives them insight into what our educators face Avagene Moore: Jon Kavanagh, you are next. please. Jon Kavanagh: Are the schools tending to prepare more for shootings or bombs (threats), or? And... Karen Franklin: After all, we tend to act very different in front of someone's mother than a teacher, right? Jon Kavanagh: have you seen an increase in a desire to be prepared from other businesses/colleges, etc.? Avagene Moore: (To all: Please submit a ? if you have a question or comment.) Karen Franklin: Jon, that is the focus these days, but we cannot forget Haz Mat incidents, and natural disasters, etc. Suicide is also a common issue for schools, and many schools have not addressed this. Avagene Moore: Susan Frushour, please. Susan Frushour: During an event, who assumes the Incident Command role in Georgia? Karen Franklin: Yes, in GA, our Technical Schools have as a group voluntarily decided to come into compliance with the school safety planning law. Avagene Moore: As a reminder, the GEMA site is http://www.state.ga.us/GEMA/ Karen Franklin: It varies from county to county, sometimes it is the EMA, fire chief, or law enforcement. If it is a crime scene law enforcement has the lead at the scene, but the overall incident should encompass many staging areas. Avagene Moore: I don't have page with your program, Karen. Think everyone can find it to get more details. Avagene Moore: Other questions? Karen Franklin: We have a new training video developed as a partnership project with the Bibb County Public Schools and Garrett Metal Detectors. This video provides a 30 minute overview of the key issues in prevention, planning, and response. We would be happy to share copies if you contact us via our website. Amy Sebring: ? Avagene Moore: Amy, please. Amy Sebring: Have you had interest from other states in emulating this program? Avagene Moore: ? Karen Franklin: Yes, we have provided training in many states and have had persons from several countries inquire about our program. Libbi RuckerReed: ! Avagene Moore: Sounds like the GEMA program is a real leader in this field. Two questions: 1. Are other states taking similar actions with schools? .... Avagene Moore: 2. What is the most difficult part of developing this type of planning for schools? Karen Franklin: Yes, many states are looking to fashion legislation after ours. And several state EMA's will be coming to visit us in December. Amy Sebring: (Here is the school safety page http://www2.state.ga.us/gema/broadcast/school-safe.htm ) Avagene Moore: Thanks, Amy. Karen Franklin: Yes, many states are looking to fashion legislation after ours. And several state EMA's will be coming to visit us in December. Karen Franklin: yes, we have a new planning guide going to the printer right now that we will be happy to share. It is very comprehensive. Don Hartley: ? Douglas Chandler: In writing their emergency plans, who writes them? Is their a plan for each school? For the district? Does the State offer a plan template? jim opoka: Are any plans available for review or to use as planning samples? Avagene Moore: Karen, Douglas asked a question. Avagene Moore: Douglas, do you wish to restate? Then I will call on Libbi. Avagene Moore: Then Jim Opoka. Karen Franklin: We offer a planning guide, but the plan is written as a collaborative process in the community. We advocate that the school system have some consistent protocols, but allow the individual schools to address unique issues such as special education students. Karen Franklin: Did that get you Douglas? Avagene Moore: Libbi, you are next. Libbi RuckerReed: Karen has an EXCELLENT presentation that she gave at the recent EMAT conference and I am sure would be glad to try to schedule for others if she can. Douglas Chandler: Yes, Thank you Avagene Moore: Jim? Avagene Moore: Please restate your question(s). jim opoka: Satisfied with response thanks Steve Smith: ? Karen Franklin: Thanks for the plug Libbi, we always try to help out fellow EMA's. Avagene Moore: Steve, please. Amy Sebring: ? Steve Smith: Are there some things GA has found that need to be done in new school construction Avagene Moore: ? Karen Franklin: Yes, this is an issue that is being studied by our Governor's Commission on education reform, the report is due out next month. Avagene Moore: Amy, please. Amy Sebring: I think Avagene mentioned you were participating in an exercise? As part of this program? Is there an exercise requirement or recommendation? Karen Franklin: Today we are observing an exercise being done in a local community by a private company they have contracted with. Our role has simply been to observe and then we will provide the EMA with some feedback. Karen Franklin: Schools are not required in GA to do exercises. Avagene Moore: Actually, Amy asked the same question I was going to ask. A new one: Is State legislation the first step in developing a program like GEMA's? Avagene Moore: (We have time for a couple more questions. Please submit ?) Amy Sebring: ? Don Hartley: ? Robert McDaniel: ? Karen Franklin: It does not have to be. All states have some basic legislation in place that came as a result of the Federal Guns Free School Zone Act of 1994. We simply enhanced the existing legislation. This helps the issue to have teeth within the local communities. Our schools' state funds can be withheld if they are not in compliance. Avagene Moore: Amy, please. Amy Sebring: You mentioned some of the prevention results. Is a formal evaluation of the program planned as an assessment? Karen Franklin: Also, if you have not signed on to our secure Georgia Public Safety Intranet, we are in the process of launching a new area for school safety. That address is http://safetynet.state.ga.us. Karen Franklin: Underreporting of weapons and incidents is such as serious problem in all places, including Georgia, that it is very difficult to get accurate data. Avagene Moore: Don, you are up next, please. Don Hartley: The State of Alabama mandate plans from all schools and sent out a guide. But they didn't suggest a common format. We've had to work hard to get schools in our area to follow the same format for easy reference. Did you have any similar problems? Isabel McCurdy: Karen, unable to locate that URL. Robert McDaniel: ? Karen Franklin: We encourage them to develop a plan that works for them. We are interested in that it meets the standard practice in emergency services (i.e. evac. 1,000 for a bomb threat). Douglas Chandler: ? Avagene Moore: Rob, please. Robert McDaniel: Does your program extend to college and university campuses? Karen Franklin: try http://safetynet.gema.state.ga.us Karen Franklin: We provide services for them as well as day care centers when requested Avagene Moore: Douglas, next, please. Douglas Chandler: Do the schools exercise their plans? What scenarios do they use? Avagene Moore: (Time for one more question. Anyone?) Karen Franklin: We have a number of scenarios that we share with them and we encourage them to exercise their plans along the same process (tabletop, functional, etc.) It is important that schools have a plan in place and train personnel on their roles before exercising. Amy Sebring: ? Avagene Moore: Amy, thank you. Douglas Chandler: Thank you Amy Sebring: It sounds like you are getting positive feedback about the program from local communities? Avagene Moore: Last question. Karen Franklin: yes, we work extensively through our project to educate people about emergency management as it applies to their children, but the message is delivered none the less. Avagene Moore: Our time is almost up for today's Round Table. If there is something we did not cover or if you still have a burning question, please hang around after we have officially adjourned and we can talk about it. But now ... Avagene Moore: Thank you for an excellent job, Karen. I know it was especially demanding of you to be here when you are away from your office. We appreciate the extra effort on your part. Avagene Moore: Thank you, audience. You are very important to us as well. Avagene Moore: And now, Amy, do you have our upcoming events? Please mention our Pledge Drive too. Karen Franklin: Thank you so much for the opportunity, our children and our educators deserve no less than our best efforts. Please let us know how we can assist you. Amy Sebring: Thanks Avagene. Tomorrow in the Forum Room we will have a distinguished panel to introduce the topic of outreach to minority communities. FEMA has launched an initiative in this area recently ... Amy Sebring: and our panel will include Kay Goss FEMA PT&E, Marshall Johnson, State Training Officer in Michigan, Kathy McKoy, also with FEMA PT&E, and Stephanie Myers, the Project Coordinator for the Emergency Preparedness Information Project. Amy Sebring: Please see the background page at http://www.emforum.org/vforum/991110.htm where we have posted some discussion questions. We will be asking you for your experience and suggestions in this area. Amy Sebring: Next Tuesday we are working on a session devoted to multi-party teleconferencing on the Internet and some of the different tools available to do this on a low cost basis. We would be happy to take your suggestions as to applications you may be using. Amy Sebring: Since last week we are pleased to announce four new pledges -- Stephen Baruch, Leslie Little, Jim Zabrocki, and Chris Stull. That brings us to 85. Only 15 more to reach our goal! Amy Sebring: //bell http://www.emforum.org/pledge.wav Thanks Steve, Leslie, Jim and Chris! Amy Sebring: If you have not pledged to join us for one or more sessions each month, please see http://www.emforum.org/eiip/pledge.htm Amy Sebring: Also, for those that were with us last week for the Italy trip follow-up, we have a number of additional photos posted. They are linked from an html version of the transcript, accessible from the Transcripts page. Amy Sebring: That's it Avagene. Avagene Moore: Thanks, Amy. .... Karen, would you like to give us your email address? Avagene Moore: Some may wish to contact you. Karen Franklin: Yes, kfranklin@gema.state.ga.us Avagene Moore: Again, thanks to Karen and everyone on line. Avagene Moore: We will officially close the Round Table for today.