The Fayette

County school system has recently unveiled a

comprehensive safety plan under the leadership of Wayne

Robinson, who is the director of Secondary School

Operations. Those in attendance at the last meeting of

the Board of Education witnessed a presentation of the

new plan, and judging by the receptive murmurs heard in

the audience, the plan was a huge success. I was so

impressed by the professional caliber of the end product,

that I went and met with Mr. Robinson to see it up close.

As a parent, I am much more comfortable knowing that a

concrete plan is in place now which will enable school

officials to deal with any crisis swiftly and

efficiently.

The Comprehensive

System-Wide Safety Plan is the culmination of countless

hours of effort on the part of many people which began

last summer with a task force comprised of parents,

students, local fire and police departments, school staff

and administrators. Ultimately, what ensued was an

impressive package designed to protect the lives of our

children and school employees.

The first priority of the

plan was consistency among schools, so that every person

responding to an emergency would know, as second nature,

how to respond. This is accomplished with a color-coded

system for categories of emergencies. All schools will

engage in the same protocol response to a code red, blue,

green, or yellow. Each school will vary only in their

exit routes and designations of "safe"

evacuation locations.

Every teacher,

administrator, and staff member has a copy of the

comprehensive plan, which is accessible and clearly

specifies appropriate responses. Employees are assigned

to "teams" designed to uniformly cover all

areas of need, including student assistance, security,

crisis command, counseling, special needs,

transportation, communication, and first aid, to name a

few. Each school will conduct staff training to

familiarize all employees with the plan. Periodic reviews

will be done to foster automatic response.

A second major component of

the plan is a "flip chart" to provide immediate

access to important numbers and a quick review of

procedures, understanding that a crisis is a stressful

situation, and it may be difficult to think as clearly

under these circumstances. Each school is provided with

bright yellow tri-fold charts that are prominently

displayed on wall mounts and in other strategic

locations.

A third priority was to

integrate the system plan with local public safety

agencies to promote the most efficient delivery of

assistance. This was accomplished by meeting together to

share ideas and needs, then after the plan was completed,

providing a copy of each school plan to the appropriate

responding agency.

The most impressive part of

the plan, besides the flip chart, is a CD-ROM technology

system that provides local public safety agencies

immediate access to each school's floor plan, an aerial

view of all surrounding streets, and even digital

photographs of hallways and common areas. With the click

of a mouse, you can get a bird's eye view of each school.

According to Mr. Robinson,

plans are also being discussed with public safety

personnel to conduct a full scale multi-agency drill at

one of the schools.

Safety plans are a major

priority in the wake of recent tragedies at schools

around the nation. The state Department of Education, in

concert with Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA),

will review plans for all state school systems, as

mandated by the Georgia General Assembly.

Mr. Robinson reports

initial favorable reviews, though we still await our

formal seal of approval.

Mr. Robinson is being

modest. I believe what we have here is a potentially

award-winning product that sets a very high standard for

the rest of the state. In fact, it is quite possible that

Fayette County's plan may become a prototype for other

systems.

Mr. Robinson is currently

looking into possibly applying for a GEMA grant to help

fund the next generation of the safety plan which would

allow public safety personnel to actually "see"

from various set points in each school via the Internet

during an actual emergency.

While the school system has

clearly done its part to promote a safe environment, the

rest is up to us as parents and as a community.

Many of us mentally

calculated the chilling similarities last year between

Fayette County and Columbine. We noted again, when

Rockdale County experienced both a shooting rampage and

then a televised documentary of scandalous sexual

activity and disease among teenagers - young

teenagers - that it could just as easily have been

us.

Know your kids, know their

friends, know their backpacks and the contents of their

rooms. Each of us has an obligation to ensure that our

own children are raised to have a respect for life,

property, and their community. Start by respecting them

enough to instill discipline in the home.

Remember that most

children, if given the choice, would rather have

"you" than some material possession.