Dumbarton Middle School in Towson, Md., was evacuated briefly this morning as emergency personnel investigated a gas leak, the Baltimore Sun reports.
A Baltimore County Police spokesman said police responded to the school at 7:55 AM, and no one was injured. Students were returned to their classrooms after the gas was shut off and after they had waited outside for about an hour, according to a report on WJZ (CBS affiliate) and the Baltimore County Police and Fire Facebook page, here.
In April 2013, Voxitatis reported on new guidelines established by the Maryland State Board of Education for emergency planning in the state’s 24 public school systems. Maryland regulations require that all 24 school systems develop and implement emergency plans. Emergencies range from violent or traumatic events on school grounds during regular school hours to events in the community that affect normal school functioning.
The board’s action updated a document published in 2003. It had been used by all 24 Maryland school systems to strengthen their emergency plans over the past decade.
“The key to safe and successful schools is planning and practice,” we quoted State Superintendent of Schools Lillian Lowery as saying at the time. “Schools and school systems must do everything in their power to keep students and staff free from harm. Every staff member must know what to do in the event of an emergency, and must have practiced his or her role.”
Now, there’s a renewed push from the US Department of Education during National Preparedness Month, September. The department writes:
We also encourage everyone to take action during National PrepareAthon! Day on Sept. 30. You can download the digital media toolkit, follow @Readygov and @PrepareAthon on Twitter, and use the hashtag #NatlPrep if you want to share your participation and show your support.
The US Education Department’s blog post suggests this might be a good time, busy as it is, to sit down with students and the EOP team at each school and go over the key elements of the plan. Parent representatives and community partners, such as first responders and local emergency management staff, can also be included in these sessions.
The department has also developed an interactive tool to help emergency planners prepare a high-quality plan for what to do in the event of a range of emergencies that could come up in a school building. It’s called EOP Assess.
The tool is designed to help schools determine if they have the capacity to create and maintain a high-quality school emergency operations plan. School officials can use the tool by answering a series of questions about their EOP. Then, the tool will develop a customized report and walk the school through a planning process recommended by the US Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Justice, and Health and Human Services.
