School crisis management plan created in Orrington

ORRINGTON – If a chemical spill occurs in town and pupils need to be evacuated from school, teachers and staff at Center Drive School will know what to do.

School administrators decided last year to create a crisis management plan for the school and a draft was presented Tuesday to the Orrington school committee.

“We put together a subcommittee during the second half of last year to put together a plan that hopefully we don’t have to use,” middle school Principal James White said Tuesday.

The first thing that the committee did was review the state Department of Education’s model crisis management plan and two plans from other area schools.

“We looked at Bucksport’s and Glenburn’s plans,” White said. “Then we adapted them to our own needs here in Orrington.”

The 41-page action plan contains procedures for handling a variety of crisis situations that range from natural disasters to social events, economic issues and environmental incidents.

A bright-orange quick-reference guide, which lists phone numbers for emergency responders and school leaders, was created as a supplemental document and will be provided for each classroom and each office.

The plan includes handling situations during school, vacations, on weekends or the night before school. A cross-section of school personnel will form an emergency team whose job is to determine a plan of action to stabilize situations, White said.

“When a crisis occurs, the superintendent or principal will contact the crisis management team,” the draft states. “He-she will prepare a short statement of facts and initiate the crisis team calling list.”

Crisis team members will meet at a designated location to discuss the incident.

The board has a month to review and make adjustments to the draft plan before it is presented again for approval.

A training session to instruct teachers and staff about how to use the plan will be held in the near future, Superintendent Allan Snell told the board.

He said the new plan also would need to be incorporated into the school’s policies.

“We need to create or modify any policies, which we’ll present at the September meeting,” Snell said.

Instructions for natural disasters such as ice storms, fires and floods, along with industrial accidents, chemical leaks and nuclear incidents, which fall under the environmental category, are covered in the booklet.

Death, accidents and crimes are listed as social incidents, and sudden widespread unemployment and employee strikes are economic events that made the crisis list.

Red flags to look for in children who have been exposed to a crisis, which would indicate a problem, were created for parents and teachers as part of the plan. Sample letters to parents and media and a classroom discussion guide also are included.

“It’s very thorough, very well-written and it’s easy to read,” board member Kyle Casburn said.