School officials, police discuss emergency procedures

Scheduled prior to the threat of violence at Tecumseh High School (THS), Tecumseh Police Chief Troy Stern, THS Assistant Principal Angel Mensing, Lenawee County Emergency Management Coordinator Curtis Parsons and Tecumseh Middle School Assistant Principal Al Schmidt met on Tuesday, Sept. 23, to discuss the district’s current procedures and plans in place for different types of emergencies.Mensing had contacted Stern over the summer to see if he could review what policies, plans and procedures the school already had in place. Mensing said the school reached out to Stern to ensure they have the latest and best practices in school safety for a variety of situations. The meeting discussed incorporating ALICE (Alert Crackdown Inform Counter Evaluate) Training Institute policies into the district’s current plan. Mensing said she would be attending ALICE training at the beginning of October. “We’re doing this to ensure the safety of our students and staff,” said Mensing.Stern said this would be the first of several meetings, saying that a hypothetical tabletop exercise would take place sometime in the future with the assistance of Parsons. During the exercise, all the key players in the event of an emergency would be present. The exercise could range from an active shooter situation to a weather event. “We will look at what we can do and what we can do better,” said Mensing.Police, fire, EMS, transportation and school officials would be present during the hypothetical run through. Other types of potential tabletop scenarios could include biohazards, fire, or evacuation. Stern said the scenario would come from Parsons. “From time to time we meet to reevaluate school response,” said Stern. “School response is constantly in flux. “We want to see how effective the procedures are that the school already has in place. The tabletop would see how well those policies are functioning properly so we can evaluate them.”“For example, with shelter in place we could look at, given the layout of the building, is there a better place to go,” said Mensing. “We can take a look where we’re at and where can we place people.”The exercise would be based on current policies and procedures, added Stern. Mensing said this would help the school stay updated with the best practices.“We can look at what’s in place now, and see how we can strengthen our current procedures and protocols,” said Mensing. “Chief Stern was great. We have a great partnership with the police.”

Tecumseh Herald

 

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