By Nick Buglione
Faculty and students are practicing evacuation procedures, should any danger warrant a building's abandonment.
Hall monitors, previously devoted to stamping out class cutting, are now keeping a particularly watchful eye on the doors, should any suspicious person walk through.
With America still in the throes of war and at a heightened domestic state of alert, schools are being taught a new vocabulary. Words like lockdown, lockout, incident command and emergency response have been added to a lexicon once filled with only benign terms.
As the possibility of a terrorist attack looms large, the responsibility of protecting children locally is falling largely on the school districts in Bellmore, East Meadow and Merrick, and placing a noticeable burden on them.
"Schools are now being asked to anticipate biological, [nuclear] and chemical attacks, which have never been part of our vocabulary," said Leon Campo, assistant superintendent of the East Meadow School District. "Schools are not particularly adept at these kinds of things."
A day after war broke out in Iraq, the state Education Department sent out a letter and accompanying manual, entitled "New York State Homeland Security for Schools," to all district administrators, underscoring the importance of readiness in the event of an attack on America's shores.
"Its purpose is to provide a uniform system for notifying school districts of possible threats and appropriate response actions," said Richard Mills, Education Department commissioner. "Anticipating the possibility of terrorist attacks, all of us must make the best possible preparations to eliminate or reduce the possibility of harm to those for whom we are responsible."
The security document offered schools recommended actions corresponding to each of the nation's alert levels. For instance, under a level blue alert, or guarded risk, schools are encouraged to restrict parking and increase surveillance. Under a level red, or severe risk, they might consider transferring students to an alternate location. Instructions on what to do during a bomb threat were also included.
Aside from recommending these actions and urging schools to review safety plans already in place, deciding exactly how to ensure student safety was left up to the districts.
Dr. Thomas Caramore, superintendent of the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, said, "They don't tell you what to do specifically; they tell you what you have to have together."
All local districts have been practicing evacuation, lockdown (during which staff and students aren't allowed to leave the rooms they're in) and lockout (during which no unauthorized personnel are allowed in the building) procedures. Caramore said his district recently dedicated an entire "emergency preparedness day" to getting those measures down pat.
School administrators in three communities have canceled all immediate class trips and are also working closely with local police and emergency-response officials, providing them with school floorplans and in some cases making room numbers visible from the outside of the building.
"Each of our buildings has an emergency plan that has been developed over the years," said Dr. Ronald Smith, superintendent of the Merrick Elementary School District. "We're also asking parents for the names of different contacts" to whom the district can release their children.
Schools are also stocking up on enough food and water to sustain students for three days. "We have to be able to accommodate children or act as a shelter for that long," said Sheldon Dumain, superintendent of the Bellmore Elementary School District.
Some of Dumain's colleagues believe that may be asking too much of schools. "The whole idea of housing students in schools for a prolonged period of time is kind of alien to us," Campo said.
While the war with Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have certainly placed an increased emphasis on school security, it was the 1999 Columbine shootings and similar incidents across the country that really started the trend.
Project SAVE, a 2000 New York State law passed in Columbine's wake, mandated the development of school safety plans at the district level and individual emergency response plans for each building in a district. Those plans, according to the law, had to be approved by the Board of Education by July 2001 and reviewed annually.
"It's an added responsibility that we did not have before," Caramore said. "We now have to do things that we didn't do before."
But just what kind of an impact is this increased security having on students, particularly those of elementary-school age? For some children, the impact can be profound, said Patrick Grehan, a school psychologist and member of the Merrick-based Nassau County Psychologist Association.
"You have some kids who have a really hard time with this," Grehan said. "Even something like a safety procedure, for some kids, it gets them really anxious."
He also noted that in his private practice in Rockville Centre, he's seeing one child who is "terrified of the war in Iraq."
"Things like a lockdown practice make him feel much more vulnerable," and makes the war seem tangible, Grehan said. "At least a TV you can turn off."
Changes in behavior, particularly a student's acting withdrawn or irritable, are typical warning signs that he or she may be having difficulty dealing with the war and its impact. "A young child may become more clingy to a parent and may have a harder time going to sleep," Grehan said.
"Parents should not try to force discussion about what's going on, but give children the opportunity that they can talk about this," he said, adding that sometimes a little reassurance and clarification of what children might be seeing or hearing can be enough to calm their fears.
If a child is under significant stress, parents should contact the school's mental health staff, Grehan said.
What they'll do in an emergency
The state Education Department has released the protocol for local schools with regard to the national alert level.
Level red, severe risk: close school before opening, close school while in session, lock the school down, relocate to a designated short-term shelter inside school, transfer students to emergency shelter.
Level orange, high risk: curtail outside activity, allow no unauthorized personnel into building, limit access to facilities, evaluate field trips.
Level yellow, elevated risk: review building-use permits, confer with authorities for further actions.
Level blue, guarded risk: restrict parking and increase surveillance.
Level green, low risk: normal operations.
