Article submitted by Jamie Fleury, The Pilot News Staff Writer
Plymouth Community School Corporation (PCSC) Board members heard an update on school safety from Safety and Security Director Ted Brown during their regular meeting Tuesday evening.
The Emergency Procedures document has been and is in the process of being updated. Certification is required within 30 days of the beginning of school. Superintendent Mitchell Mawhorter and Brown will complete those updates and send them down to the state for certification.
Each school is going through the Civic Guidelines for their buildings to make sure that nothing has changed.
An active shooter drill was conducted this summer at Lincoln Junior High (LJH) in collaboration with the Indiana State Police, Plymouth Police Department, Marshall County Sheriff’s Department and the Plymouth Fire Department (PFD) / Emergency Medical Services. The training included more than active shooter responses.
Brown said, “We learned a ton. Things that not only we as a school corporation need to improve on, but working together with the agencies in our community.” The team was scheduled to meet with the PFD Wednesday to review the material.
Brown said that the training has been beneficial. “It was really good for me. I’ve seen the police side many, many times but to see what we actually need to do as a school, there’s a lot of things that we need to work towards to get better. We are way ahead of the curve, but we can get much better.”
Brown updated the board that the “One County One Protocol” initiative is seeing great strides. “Every school corporation within Marshall County is going to the basic same procedures and wording.”
According to Brown, superintendents and stakeholders are sitting at the table to move toward preparing with individual drills and potential situations across the board that will enable the corporation to respond should the need arise.
Marshall County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Clyde Avery provided training on Incident Command System and Structure. “I think it was really good for some of the school personnel to see how that actually works.” Brown said that in an emergency, seeing how it all ties together will enable staff to respond more efficiently.
PCSC along with all the public schools in Marshall County will be utilizing Hero 911.
Emails were sent this week detailing how to set up geofences around each building. The principals were scheduled to meet Wednesday to be given instructions on how to set up and use the system. An app on the phone will notify any officer who has been vetted and has the app within a 25 miles radius of the building. “All the incidents that are either accidental trips or purpose trips – we’ve had an officer there within less than 30 seconds. That’s either on duty or off duty. So the main key in any armed intruder situation is getting law enforcement to confront the bad guy as soon as possible. This is going to make us a lot better off.”
Brown expected the app to be fully functioning by the first day of school. Everyone eligible for the app including custodians, teachers and administrators are going to be asked to download the app.
