Last night parents in Columbia received automated telephone messages announcing a drill at the school next week and that parents would not be allowed at the school during the drill.

According to this elected “public servant’s” blog: “It’s only a drill: The Columbia Police Department and the Columbia School District Administration will be coordinating a critical incident emergency drill at the Columbia High School campus located at 901 Ironville Pike in Columbia Borough. Multiple Lancaster County law enforcement, fire and emergency medical service agencies will be participating in this dril [sic], next week.The goal of this drill is multi-fold. First, the drill will serve to train first responders.”

The US Department of Education and Pennsylvania’s Department of Education have guidance for schools concerning the importance of hazard identification; emergency plan development and the requisite implementation of a plan to “practice the plans.”

Lessons learned in the wake of school shooting incidents in schools and colleges across the world validate the need for careful planning by involving community shareholders:

“School safety plans of public schools shall be prepared with input from students enrolled in that school, parents or legal guardians of such students, teachers in that school, other school employees and school district employees and
local law enforcement, fire service, public safety and emergency management agencies.”

If you are a parent or shareholder, here are references that will provide more insight into the emergency planning processes that all school systems can use to prepare their students, parents, staff, faculty and shareholder citizens for a critical incident in a school environment. “Lessons learned” from “real-world” incidents cite communications and incident management (using the National Incident Management System) as key “improvements needed”  in after-action reports.