Schools to update disaster procedure
A recent seminar gave school officials an update on disaster preparedness.
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield School District's disaster plan is going to get an update.
School nurse Kim Brunton told the Weathersfield school board that she and a team from the district who attended a School Disaster Preparedness Training Seminar have brought back several ideas to implement.
The focus of discussions at the seminar was reacting not only to events such as shootings, but also to chemical spills.
The school district already has a disaster plan, but information from the seminar will be included in the plan, Brunton said.
She noted that the schools have to be prepared to handle a situation on their own, in case police, fire or medical units cannot reach the buildings right away.
She said various scenarios of possible disasters were discussed at the seminar, and she urged the school board to look at setting up disaster teams at the district's three schools.
Brunton explained to the board that, should an incident occur, there will be no questions about what to do under code red, yellow or blue. She said the schools will be put in lock-down, and all students moved to the safety of classrooms after an announcement of a lock-down is made.
Invited to seminar
Brunton said that the district was one of 12 invited to attend the seminar Nov. 1 at the Holiday Inn, Boardman.
The total cost for the district was a $25 registration fee, which included a dinner for eight who attended from Mineral Ridge.
Each team at the seminar got $300 worth of equipment in each bag, Brunton said, including a a weather band radio, hard hats, clipboards, note paper, pens, pencils, markers, tags to identify victims, blankets, flashlights, a variety of protective gear, garbage bags and a 25-person prepackaged first-aid kit.
She added she will work on buying similar equipment for each building.
The seminar was sponsored by the Ohio Department of Health, School and Adolescent Services, Columbiana County Health Department, Trumbull County Health Department, The Coordination Action for School Health Coalition of the Columbiana County school board, Youngstown State University nursing department, and the University of Pittsburgh Center for Public Health Preparedness.