lowell wolff, wolff consulting, llc 701-235-4466 wolffconsultingllc@gmail.com

Lowell Wolff, Wolff Consulting, LLC701-235-4466

WolffConsultingLLC@gmail.com

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 morrist@casscounty.gov

Resources

Lowell Wolff, Wolff Consulting, LLC701-235-4466

WolffConsultingLLC@gmail.com

www.casscountynd.gov/county/depts/sheriff • Click on logo