Student’s death a reminder to plan for school emergencies

January 16, 2007
by Gov. Christine Gregoire
The News Tribune

My heartfelt prayers go out to the family and friends of Samnang Kok and all students, parents and faculty in Tacoma’s Foss High School community. As a parent and governor, I find it difficult to accept the loss of a life in one of our public schools.

Too often in the last decade, our country has witnessed tragedies in schools from Littleton, Colo., to Paducah, Ky., and even our own Moses Lake. Acts of violence are not the only threats; disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes also impact school safety.

As president of the National Association of Attorneys General in the time after those shootings, I led a study of school violence to look for ways we could prevent incidents. We prepared a report titled “Bruised Inside” that served as a guide for states to develop ways to combat school violence. We found that a critical element behind the cases of school shootings was a relentless barrage of teasing and bullying that eventually explodes into violence.

In our state, I worked with legislators to quickly pass anti-bullying legislation in 2002, and we were one of only two states with such laws.

Through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, we have since instituted a number of programs to reduce violence in our schools and to improve first responders’ ability to prepare for and react to school emergencies effectively.

We made training available to help teachers and administrators build better relationships with students, and to work with teachers to identify students with a tendency toward violent behavior – and intercede before an incident occurs. Two statewide conferences taught more than 800 teaching professionals how to build trust with students and how to spot suspicious behavior.

We have focused on planning and responding more effectively to a wide variety of emergencies that could occur in our schools. How many schools are prepared for emergencies such as intruders, shootings, lockdowns, terrorism or natural disasters – hurricanes, earthquakes or tsunamis? A recent survey reported that only 57.2 percent of schools have a written plan for prevention of a mass-casualty event, and 30 percent have never even conducted an emergency drill.

In every emergency situation, saving time saves lives. With support from our state legislators, we implemented the Critical Incident Planning and Mapping System. The CIPMS is a statewide system that provides police, fire, and other first responders with immediate access to key information about our state’s 400-plus high schools and more than 1,270 middle and elementary schools.

First responders can instantly access more than 300 data points per school, including police, fire, and school emergency plans, evacuation plans and other resources. The system allows emergency response personnel to act quickly, decisively and safely during any facility-related emergency incident.

Less than two weeks after deployment, one of our state’s larger schools used the system to successfully mitigate an incident. After a student entered a crowded high school and fired a gun, staff immediately called 911 and then accessed the crisis response program. While police approached the school, a school safety officer was on the phone with police dispatch, guiding officers to the classroom.

My budget proposal to the Legislature this year includes funds for completing the school mapping program statewide.

Compared to Littleton, where it took over five hours for the first SWAT teams to enter the Columbine High School building, the gunman was isolated within 12 minutes. More than 2,000 students and staff were safely evacuated to a family relocation center in less than 20 minutes. Repairs were made to the classroom that night, and classes resumed the next day.

Still, when one student is hurt or killed, it reminds us all that there is still work to do and that we all must help safeguard our schools and our communities.

While we mourn the loss of Sam, let’s honor his memory by supporting efforts to keep students safe in our schools. I urge parents to ask about the emergency plans and procedures at your children’s schools. Talk to your children about what to do in an emergency. Take time right now to get involved.

Gov. Chris Gregoire served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General in 1999-2000. The report “Bruised Inside” can be found at www.atg.wa.gov/releases/rel_report_041000.html.