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Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
 Hay River school principals Peter Grimm and Gordon Miller review the school system's emergency response plans. - Dave Sullivan/NNSL photo |
In January they were asked to draw up emergency response plans in tandem with municipalities, but what's been done is vague. Schools Supervisor James Crowell points out that plans have to be general, because it's impossible to plan for every scenario.
"During a crisis they may not even have time to consult what's written down," he says. But having plans written in advance gets leaders thinking about how to respond, and provides some structure, he said.
Crowell said 1999's massacre of students at Columbine high school in Colorado prompted the push for emergency plans.
Scenarios most likely to unfold in real life are different in each South Slave community. In Lutsel K'e a forest fire is far more likely than a chemical spill, which is a threat for Hay River schools located near rail lines.
In Fort Smith, Paul William Kaeser High School's response plan "is not a finished product. I'm not there yet, we've had a few meetings," said principal Al Karasiuk.
One problem in Fort Resolution is communicating with a fire brigade that barely exists any more because volunteers work out of town, said Deninoo Principal Bill Hurley.
After a suicide attempt shook that community last year, "everyone was running all over" until it was decide the gathering point would be the school gym, from where volunteers served tea.
Depending on what facilities a community has, different municipal emergency response plans peg schools for things ranging from evacuation points, to backup gathering places or luggage drop-offs.
At a recent principals meeting, Fort Smith's Joseph Burr Tyrell Elementary School principal Craig Walsh and others wondered who would take charge during a serious crisis. Crowell's response:
"Don't build into your plans that someone will step in and relieve you of your crisis."
That led other principals to ask if they have the authority to order teachers and other staff to stay behind for the duration of a crisis.
Two years ago during a bomb threat at Hay River's courthouse, police asked everyone to stay inside the adjacent Diamond Janess High School, for safety. That crisis didn't last long enough for demands to surface from staff wanting to go home or parents demanding their children back.
NWT's Emergency Co-ordinator Bernie Van Tighem says that's unclear. Schools could authorize things like staff staying on the scene, "but you're getting into all sorts of labour discussions. It's hard to plan for that."
He said the ability to order people around depends whether a state of emergency has been declared, but that response plans are dusted off usually without declaring an emergency. That's the way it happened Sept. 11, when Yellowknife's emergency plan kicked in to accommodate the landing of a diverted jumbo jet.
Scenarios
Some scenarios that could have happen in South Slave communities:
How realistic should fire drills be?
Northern News Services
Everyone remembers the routine: filing out to schoolyards, often on a nice day, then returning to class and an announcement over the public address system. It would be the principal declaring the evacuation was smooth, but should move a little faster next time.
Today principals are asking about fire drills on the coldest winter days, because there could be a fire then as much as on better days.
But calls come in from angry parents when their children get cold at school from a drill.
The younger the children, the longer it takes them to put on coats, boots, and mittens before heading for the door.
Principals were told at a recent gathering that the fire marshall doesn't want children taking time out to bundle up before evacuating a school - no matter how cold it is outside.
