SAD 63 schools conduct evacuation, lockdown drills

EDDINGTON – Each of the district’s three schools have conducted or will soon conduct evacuation and or lockdown drills with staff and pupils, SAD 63 administrators told school board members Monday.

“We’re working on our security plan,” Holbrook Middle School Principal Gary Gonyar, who is part of the district’s homeland security and safety team, said to the board. “It has addressed everything that we feel might happen at our schools.”

The plan covers everything from ice storms to floods to threats from individuals. The evacuation and lockdown drills are a way to practice for emergencies and work out wrinkles with the new plan, which has been a continuing project for the last year, Gonyar said.

For example, while the staff at Holbrook practiced the lockdown drill, a delivery driver entered the front door with packages, which demonstrated to administrators that locking the front door was one item that needed to be added to the list, Gonyar said.

Each school, along with town and public safety officials, have a copy of the thick emergency plan, created by the homeland security and safety team, and summary versions are in the works, Gonyar said.

Keeping communications up and running during a power loss also arose as an issue during the discussion on evacuations and the possibility of installing a cell phone tower in the area was listed as a need by Superintendent Louise Regan.

During the meeting, the board also:

. Set the December meeting date for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 19.

. Heard from Principal Don Spencer that Eddington Elementary School pupils have raised $618.50 through a coin drive to assist those devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

. Held three executive sessions to discuss the hiring of Dr. Gary Ross as the school physician; compensation for a group of officials or employees; and disciplining an employee.