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June 10, 2008

Cross Roads ISD prepares for the worst

District comes up with plan for hypothetical disaster

By Angela Weatherford

A tanker truck carrying liquid fertilizer is driving through Cross Roads and wrecks next the local school complex — puncturing the tank and leaking out a deadly gas.

That is the hypothetical scenario Cross Roads Independent School District, Henderson County officials and emergency responders from the City of Athens dealt with last Friday during an emergency alert tabletop exercise.

“Cross Roads really stepped up to the plate and did a great job,” Henderson County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Joy Kimbrough said.

Kimbrough said school officials contacted her in February about conducting a hazardous material-type situation — with the idea of coming up with an emergency plan.

“There is a lot transported over those roads,” she said. “There are a lot of factors that could create exactly that scenario.”

“We feel much better prepared in case of an emergency,” CRISD Superintendent Clay Tompkins said. “This served as a really good learning experience for all of us.”

The first plan of action in an emergency situation is to place students on buses and get them away from the area, Tompkins said.

“In this situation we couldn’t do that,” he said, referring to the hypothetical tanker spill, “because the chemical was airborne and the gas had surrounded the school.”

So, if you can’t get the students safely to the buses you keep them in the school, he said. Students would be kept in their classrooms and the doors would be sealed the best they could.

“We would ‘shelter in place’ and seal the doors until first responders arrived and took over,” he said. Shelter in place, he explained, means keeping students where they are until help arrives.

As far as communicating the emergency to the community, Tompkins said someone would call radio stations, newspapers and other forms of media.

Also, the school recently set up a new phone system that is capable of automatically calling parents and leaving a prerecorded message.

“Of course the message would have to be changed,” he said, “but our tech guy would take care of all that.”

Tompkins added that the district’s emergency action plan is set up to cover “any possible situation” that would occur.

Because the school district contacted the county for the preparedness meeting, it was the lead participant, with City of Athens and Henderson County emergency response officials offering assistance.

School districts do not have to hold emergency response exercises, Kimbrough said.

“There is a lot to be said for them doing this,” she said.

Members from Henderson County 9-1-1, Northeast Texas Public Health, Henderson County, Shady Oaks, Athens Fire Department and the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department were also in attendance.

“It’s a very good cooperative,” Thompson said.

Thompson and Kimbrough said they learned things they hadn’t thought of before participating in the exercise. Although the exercise was strictly discussion, it still took five months of preparation.

“This has really helped us to realize the support we have in the county,” Thompson said.

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