SAFE (School Action for Emergencies) Plans are under development for area schools and should be ready by this February, members of the Clearview Public Schools board were told at a meeting last week.
Cst. William Lewadniuk from the Stettler RCMP detachment, who serves as the local school resource officer, made a presentation to the board at its committee of the whole meeting on Thursday, Nov. 13.
Lewadniuk said SAFE Plans are being initiated for local public and Catholic schools, as a tool to help “front-line members respond efficiently and effectively to critical incidents.”
Each school must have its own specific response plan, which is then available to officers and other emergency responders in the event of an urgent situation.
“I’ve been working in co-operation with the school board, with Clearview staff and with the individual principals themselves,” Lewadniuk told the Independent.
The response plans include standardized lockdown procedures that can be put in place to respond to serious or potentially violent situations. They also include key information like contacts, floor plans, aerial photos and maps.
According to Lewadniuk’s presentation, the plans can be applied in “any school event or situation that requires police deployment of resources,” ranging from shooters, bomb threats or hostage situations to chemical spills, property crimes or missing children.
The SAFE Plan computer application was released nationwide in September 2007. The program is used to make these site-specific emergency response plans available to police.
In serious situations, Lewadniuk explained, the local detachment may request help from a larger centre, such as Edmonton or Calgary.
“The (police) can have access to all this information before they’re even on the site,” he explained.
The SAFE Plan is also designed to improve co-ordination with other emergency services, although only RCMP members and partnering law enforcement agencies can access the plans.
“It’s going to become a big priority,” said Corp. Cameron Russell, who joined Lewadniuk briefly at the close of his presentation. “It’s a very beneficial program, as far as I can see.”
In response to an inquiry from board chair Cheri Neitz about threats from within, Lewadniuk said that school officials must be vigilant about potential “warning flags” and must bring such concerns to the police.
Associate superintendent Peter Neale said he was impressed with Lewadniuk’s leadership in implementing the SAFE Plans and added, “We’re looking forward to seeing this come to fruition.”
Lewadniuk told the Independent later that the SAFE Plans for most of the Clearview schools should be in place by February 2015.
“All of the tactical planning has been done for all of the schools,” he said, explaining that he started the early groundwork in June and ramped up his efforts beginning in September.
A SAFE Plan is also under development for Christ-King Catholic School and should be in place by March. Lewadniuk said that Clearview’s colony schools would be included in the program, though their SAFE Plans aren’t expected to be completed until June.
A public information session is planned at some point. Lewadniuk said info on the SAFE Plans would be shared first with principals, then with teachers and finally with parents and students.
Other business
The committee of the whole meeting also included the annual update from Student Services and CARS (Children and Adolescents being Resilient and Self-Regulating), presented by student services director Eileen Johnstone and clinical director Don Porter.
Several new and revised policies were approved for public consultation on the following concerns: appeals, delegation of authority, superintendent job description, yard service standards and the Local Authorities Pension Plan.
Board meeting dates were finalized for the coming year, trustee Staci Gerlitz provided a review of the Student Ombudsman Committee, and superintendent Peter Barron offered his regular update on his recent and upcoming activities.
The board will meet next on Nov. 27 at 10 a.m. at the Clearview office in Stettler.