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Security Precautions Suggested by the US Department of Education

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) continues to work closely with local, state, and federal public safety officials to provide a safe and secure environment for our students and staff members.   Last week, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) issued a letter to educational institutions across the country calling for schools and colleges to review safety plans and security measures.

In this letter, the USDOE listed a number of protective measures that schools should take.   Under the leadership of its Office of Safety and Security (OSS), FCPS has increased its security measures steadily over the last ten years and, in fact, has all but one of these measures already in place.   Below are listed the USDOE measures and a brief summary of actions FCPS has already taken.   For more details about FCPS safety and security plans, visit the FCPS emergency preparedness web site.

The following cites the USDOE letter, followed by the status of FCPS preparedness in blue.

Short-term protective measures include reviewing procedures to safeguard school facilities and students and other people within the facilities. Those measures ... include:

• Review all school emergency and crisis management plans.
  Every FCPS school is required to have a plan, to update its plan, and to have its plan reviewed by FCPS Office of Safety and Security specialists annually.

• Raise awareness among local law enforcement officers and school officials by conducting exercises relating to school emergency and crisis management plans.
  For several years, FCPS has participated in joint exercises with other county agencies to practice emergency responses.   In recent weeks, FCPS took part in both a regional and a countywide exercise.   All FCPS schools have participated in table top exercises in which key staff members from a school practice reacting to a series of crises; the OSS continues to regularly facilitate these exercises for individual schools.

• Raise awareness among school officials and students by conducting awareness training relating to the school environment that includes awareness of signs of terrorism.
  Schools participate regularly in tabletop exercises, which include awareness training, and share information with their communities on emergency preparedness.

• Raise community awareness of any potential threats as well as vulnerabilities.
  FCPS maintains a comprehensive web site on safety and security for parent and community use.   USDOE has named this web site one of the best in the nation.   In addition, parents and staff members receive emergency information, when needed, by push e-mail, hot lines, cable television, and other emergency communication networks.

• Prepare the school staff to act in a crisis situation.
  Tabletop exercises, as described above, are conducted regularly in schools and in other locations districtwide for staff members.

• Consider a closed-campus approach to limit visitors.
  All FCPS campuses are closed. Schools are encouraged to limit the number of open access points and to strictly enforce visitor control procedures.

• Consider a single entry point for all attendees, staff members, and visitors.
  Schools are encouraged to implement this policy.

• Focus patrols by law enforcement officers on and around school grounds.  
  Resource officers from the police department are assigned full-time during the school year to all middle and high schools. The police department and school security officers conduct routine patrols at all our facilities daily.  

• Ensure that school officials will always be able to contact school buses.  
  All FCPS buses have radios that provide communication with the central transportation office and with the public safety communications network.

• Ensure that emergency communications from and to schools are working.   
  FCPS uses redundant communications systems to provide for information sharing to and from schools.   These include a message alert system, an e-mail distribution system, staff and community hot lines, and cell phones.

• Download the Red Cross brochure, Terrorism: Preparing for the Unexpected, at http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/keepsafe/terrorism.pdf and provide a copy to students, staff members, and faculty.  
  The FCPS web site contains information related to personal emergency preparedness preparations, including a link to this brochure and to other helpful sites.  

• Report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities.   
  Schools actively monitor activities at their sites and in the community and regularly report suspicious activities promptly to law enforcement.

Long-term protective measures should include physical enhancements to school buildings. Among the measures schools should consider are the following:

• Install secure locks for all external and internal doors and windows.
  All school doors and windows are equipped with locking mechanisms.

• Install window and external door protections with quick-release capability.
  All school exit doors have panic hardware that allows for the immediate release of the locking device.

• Consider establishing a safe area (or safe areas) within the school for assembly and shelter during emergencies.
  All FCPS schools have shelter-in-place procedures in place, as well as tornado shelter responses.

• Apply protective coating on windows in facilities that face traffic.
  This measure attempts to make windows blast resistant.   In a school division of this size, this would be an extremely costly measure.   FCPS does not have plans to implement such a measure at this time.  

October 11, 2004
FCPS Office of Safety and Security

Last update: June 8, 2005
Curator: Rose Kaspersen, Rose.Kaspersen@fcps.edu