The Marshall County Safety Committee met last week to discuss winter storm events like the one experienced this weekend.
The school superintendents and safety personnel from Marshall County schools say that communication between the sheriff’s department, schools and the highway department is solid. They all work together to discuss road conditions that help superintendents and transportation officials make decisions about the status of school for the day.
The Marshall County Safety Commission heard concerns about trains stopped at crossings which creates an issue when buses are transporting students to and from school.
Cindy King from the John Glenn School Corporation said there are at least three instances a week where a train blocks a bus route for buses transporting students to school. She said a new route will have to be constructed for next year.
Indiana State Police officers and Marshall County Sheriff Tom Chamberlin both indicated that they have talked with Norfolk Southern and CSX officials and the issues are getting better. Several tickets have been written to the engineers to help curb the issue.
The Marshall County Safety Commission held a discussion on many key issues of emergency planning when they met Tuesday morning.
Troy Heckaman from Culver Military Academy and Emergency Management Agency Director Clyde Avery noted that they were trying to put together a crisis communication plan for each school. Avery said they would like to have representatives from each of the schools to designate a safety person to be a part of a sub-committee that will work on a plan that’s specific to the school.
The Marshall County Safety Commission will meet for the first of its two meetings of the year this morning.
The commission members will develop strategies in emergency planning for schools, highways, emergency management, police, and health department.
During the fall meeting, programs were suggested to better gather information about how to handle bomb threats at school corporations and how to prepare for winter weather. A system for responding to emergencies was also discussed where communication plans were laid out. Those plans will be reviewed, and other thoughts given to help ensure all entities are on the same page when emergencies occur.
