Drill to test school safety

State Port Pilot
Posted: Dec 6, 2006

Moving more than 3,000 students and teachers halfway across the county and back sounds like an exercise in confusion.

But Brunswick County emergency services director Randy Thompson believes the county’s first-ever radiological emergency drill, in which students and teachers at schools within a ten-mile radius of the Progress Energy Brunswick Plant will be transported by bus to other schools in the county, is actually an important exercise in preparedness and school safety.

And the evacuation drill that will move students, teachers and administrators at Southport Elementary, South Brunswick Middle, South Brunswick High and Virginia Williamson Elementary Tuesday morning, Thompson noted, is not only a first for Brunswick County; it’s the first in the nation.

“These plans as far as I know have not been tested across the nation. We probably are going to become a model,” Thompson said Monday. “I know of no other county or school system that has stepped up to take planning to this stage. This should provide some valuable information back to the school system and to each community.”

While the radiological emergency plan is required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Thompson said the drill would help county emergency services, law enforcement and Brunswick County Schools prepare for any emergency.

“It’s not just Progress Energy. It’s MOTSU (Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point), chemical plants, transportation of hazardous materials,” he said.

“It could even be a significant weather event,” Stephen Miley, executive director of operations for Brunswick County Schools, added. “There are so many reasons for evacuation that we want to have some expertise.”

For the purpose of Tuesday’s drill, the scenario will be that a “credible threat” to southern county schools has been recognized by emergency management at 8 a.m. By 8:30 a.m., participating schools will be ordered to evacuate. Transportation plans will be activated and bus drivers will follow designated routes. At 10:30 a.m., students and staff should arrive at their relocation schools. Head counts will be taken.

Buses should be back on the road by 11 a.m. to return evacuees to their home schools. The drill is expected to be finished by noon.
Thompson said representatives from emergency management services, law enforcement and the school system will be at each school to evaluate the process. “Controllers” of the exercise like Thompson and Miley will be at one school together.

“That way if a question arises, we can answer it together,” Thompson said.
Both Miley and Thompson agreed there would be some challenges- efficiency of movement, accountability, communication and traffic, among others- on Tuesday.

But Thompson said now, not when an emergency presents itself, is the best time to learn the plan’s strengths and weaknesses.
“To me, New Orleans comes to mind. They had a plan in place, a plan that was recognized nationally. Where was that plan (during Hurricane Katrina)? You can have all the plans and procedures, but if you don’t test them, you’re going to have a weak point somewhere. Whenever you have to make a critical decision and you haven’t done an exercise, you don’t know what challenges you will face,” he said.

Parents shouldn’t be alarmed by the drill, Thompson and Miley noted. The practice evacuation, they said, can only enhance their children’s safety in the event of an emergency.

“This should be giving something back to the community and the parents,” Thompson said. “Hopefully parents will say, ‘Brunswick County Schools is doing something to protect my kids.’”

Miley said parents were notified Monday through ConnectEd, the school district’s automated phone service, and through school announcements.