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In the wake of Sandy Hook, school safety is a top priority across the country. The Department of Homeland Security is working with districts across the country, including here in KELOLAND, to review safety plans.
Locally, emergency managers are working with school districts.
"We're going to start reviewing plans. We've done plans in the past. Obviously, there are going to be things that have changed," Brown County Emergency Manager Scott Meints said.
Meints is just one person that reviews those plans. He assembles different agencies ranging from law enforcement to ambulance so the policy can receive feedback from multiple perspectives.
The review process is voluntary for schools. The Aberdeen School District is already working with Brown County Emergency Management.
The district has had a safety plan in place for more than ten years. It's looking into revisions and working with outside agencies to help pinpoint potential vulnerabilities.
"We think by incorporating all these entities in the revision of our safety management plan that we're going to have one that will work better than ever for us," Superintendent Gary Harms said.
Brown County has a large district in Aberdeen and small, remote ones as well. Overall, Meints calls the safety goals similar.
"I think our school administrators and faculty and staff have done great jobs at creating those plans for their school districts. And again, we're just another set of eyes to help make that plan the best it can be," Meints said.
Emergency management is also using the revision process as a way to keep all responders on the same page.
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