THE GAZETTE
Page A-6
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 p
Montgomery schools face tougher emergency drill rules Schools will have to conduct six, instead of four, next year
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BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
At least four times a year, each public school in Montgomery County has practiced an emergency drill to help prepare staff and students for the worst, from a tornado to an armed shooter. While Montgomery County Public Schools has operated under its own mandate for at least 10 years, the school system will face a new state requirement next school year that calls for six drills each year, according to Bob Hellmuth, director of school safety and security for the
school system. Following the revision of emergency plan guidelines for Maryland schools in April 2013, the Maryland State Board of Education amended state regulations later in the year in part to add a requirement that schools must conduct drills for evacuation, “shelter in place,” reverse evacuation, lockdown, severe weather and “drop, cover, and hold.” The state expanded the types of drills local school districts and schools must perform to help them prepare for “a broader range of emergencies,” according to a May 21, 2013, letter from state Superintendent Lillian M. Lowery to members of the Maryland school board. The change for Montgomery County next year, Hellmuth
said, will have to do more with the number of drills rather than their content. “There’s not anything too new to us,” he said. County schools currently have the authority to pick from among three types of drills: shelter, lockdown and evacuation. These drills cover a variety of possible situations, including weather incidents, Hellmuth said. Hellmuth said he could not remember how the school system decided to require four drills rather than more or less, but added he thought the number has allowed for a good amount of drill practice in the school system and has not been “overbearing.” In a shelter drill, a school will practice locking the exterior
doors and monitoring the entrances while teachers continue to teach classes. Lockdown drills involve securing a school’s interior doors, covering the windows and making classrooms look unoccupied. To practice evacuating, students exit the building to meet at a designated place on the campus. For some drills, schools are handed a specific scenario they must react to, such as a bank robbery nearby involving a suspect last seen heading toward the school. Schools also must conduct 10 fire drills each year, a separate requirement, Hellmuth said. Some county principals said the extra two required emergency drills will be helpful. Scott Murphy, principal of Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg, said he thinks four drills is an “appropriate” number but that there’s always room for more practice. “Given the uncertainties in today’s world, you can never be prepared enough,” Murphy said. Following a drill, school staff will conduct a debriefing to evaluate their performance, he said. “Drills are always a learning experience,” he said. Cheryl Clark, principal of Lois P. Rockwell Elementary
in Damascus, said the school conducts multiple drills each year to prepare for emergencies, including weather-related incidents. Not long ago, Clark said, the school dealt with an actual tornado warning for the area. “I was glad that we had practiced,” she said. More practice, she said, will translate to students and staff being more apt to follow procedures. “Anytime that you do a drill for safety reasons, when you’re talking about large numbers of kids in a building and large numbers of staff, I think the practice for safety precautions is not a bad thing — it’s helpful,” she said. Clark added that the elementary school sees a new group of young students each year who could benefit from the practice. Clark said she thinks the state-mandated drills won’t mark a significant change for county schools. “It sounds like it is not that different from what we’re doing,” she said. Jimmy Sweeney, principal at Rosemont Elementary School in Gaithersburg, said he thinks six drills might be too much. “Four is plenty,” he said. “Six actually seems excessive to me.” Sweeney said he knows the intentions behind the state requirement are good, but thinks
that students and staff know what to do under the current drill requirement. Eric Wilson, principal of Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring, said that he thinks two more drills will help students and staff with mental and emotional preparedness, translating to less anxiety should an actual incident occur. Wilson said each drill currently takes only about 15 to 20 minutes — with much of the time devoted to monitoring that the proper protocols are in place — but more drills will mean “a few more challenges.” “It is going to be a challenge to try and fit them in and get them scheduled,” he said. Susan Burkinshaw — health and safety committee cochairwoman of the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations — said more drills will help students, especially younger ones, be more familiar with the procedures they should follow in an emergency. Some students might be absent when a school performs a drill, and another two drills each year could help prepare more people, she said. “When you’re stressed and in a situation where there is a real emergency, you fall back on your training,” she said. lpowers@gazette.net
Simmons wants clean Distrct 17 campaign 2010 campaign was characterized as ‘nasty’ n
BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons is calling on his opponent in the District 17 state Senate election to keep the race clean. Simmons of Rockville is running against former Del. Cheryl Kagan for the Senate seat in the June 24 Democratic primary. The seat has been held the past four terms by Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D) of Rockville, who is not running for re-election in 2014. Simmons issued Thursday a “No Mudslinging in Maryland Pledge” that asks candidates and their campaign teams to pledge to avoid personal and character attacks, defamation, false information, and distortions and misrepresentations of an opponents’ records. “The voters in District 17 deserve a campaign that is honest, fair and focuses on the issues. There is no place for the politics of personal destruction in this race,” Simmons said in a statement Thursday. “I urge my opponent, Cheryl Kagan to sign this pledge today.” Kagan, who ran against Forehand in 2010, would not say if she will sign. But she characterized Sim-
mons’ personal and legislative history as being “about mudslinging.” “It’s disappointing that Del. Simmons is focused on playing politics when he is being paid to focus on legislative business in Annapolis,” Kagan said. Kagan said she plans to run an issue-based campaign. After narrowly winning reelection in 2010, Forehand characterized the race as “nasty,” telling The Gazette “negative campaigning was something we’d never had in our district, and I thought it was inexcusable.” At the time Kagan defended her campaign saying it was more informative than negative. Simmons is not the first candidate to call for keeping things clean in 2014. Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who seeks the Democratic nomination for governor, asked his opponents to pledge to shun ads paid for by outside groups, requiring those who violated the pledge to pay a penalty to charity equal to half the cost of the advertisement. His pledge did not get support. Gansler’s opponent Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) countered with a “positive campaign pledge” that also went unsupported. kalexander@gazette.net
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