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CNN Live Today
Safe at School?
Aired February 13, 2003 - 11:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of thought and talk is put into preparing your home in the event of a terrorist attack. But what if something happens in the middle of the day and your kids are at school? Well, just this morning here in Fairfax County, there was a briefing for some school administrators to bring them up to speed on current planning for them, for their buildings and for their students. Fairfax County is a huge school district, the 11th largest in the nation. It has 163,000 kids, 20,000 staff members, 250 buildings, and it is considered to be at the forefront of planning for the possibility of a terrorist incident.
With me is the man who put together the plan for Fairfax County, Jim McClain.
Thanks so much for joining me here today.
So if there is a terrorist incident in Fairfax County, what happens first?
JAMES MCLAIN, FAIRFAX CO. SECURITY COORDINATOR: Well, we implement each school has a crisis management plan. We implement that and one component of it that may come into effect is Shelter in Place.
MESERVE: Which means what?
MCLAIN: Which means we bring everybody inside the building, shut off the HVAC system, close all the windows and doors and wait for the hazard to pass.
MESERVE: We've all been told to stock in three days supply of food and water. Are the schools here doing something like that?
MCLAIN: No, we're not. Shelter in Place for this kind of incident is a short-term solution to a short-term problem. Should we go into some kind of catastrophic incident, we would rely on federal officials, and we also have the delivery services right in this county we could supply the schools, if they became shelters.
MESERVE: Parents are going to be frantic to get to their children. How did you deal with that, how do you communicate with them and let them know the kids are OK?
MCLAIN: They can go to our Web site. We answer questions from parents every day. We give them comprehensive information on the Web site. They can join keep in touch.
MESERVE: Can they, during an emergency, if something is ongoing? MCLAIN: Absolutely. We communicate through the media very well, and we'll get the word out to the parents. We don't want them to come to the schools. Public safety would prevent them but they need to understand, if the air is safe enough for them to breath outside, we won't confine their students or keep them from them.
MESERVE: OK, Jim McLain, thanks a lot for joining us.
A lot of planning has gone into this. They've mapped out the vulnerabilities in the county, figured out how close they are to the schools. Also done maps of the schools to find out where the critical systems are that would have to be shut down.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 13, 2003 - 11:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of thought and talk is put into preparing your home in the event of a terrorist attack. But what if something happens in the middle of the day and your kids are at school? Well, just this morning here in Fairfax County, there was a briefing for some school administrators to bring them up to speed on current planning for them, for their buildings and for their students. Fairfax County is a huge school district, the 11th largest in the nation. It has 163,000 kids, 20,000 staff members, 250 buildings, and it is considered to be at the forefront of planning for the possibility of a terrorist incident.
With me is the man who put together the plan for Fairfax County, Jim McClain.
Thanks so much for joining me here today.
So if there is a terrorist incident in Fairfax County, what happens first?
JAMES MCLAIN, FAIRFAX CO. SECURITY COORDINATOR: Well, we implement each school has a crisis management plan. We implement that and one component of it that may come into effect is Shelter in Place.
MESERVE: Which means what?
MCLAIN: Which means we bring everybody inside the building, shut off the HVAC system, close all the windows and doors and wait for the hazard to pass.
MESERVE: We've all been told to stock in three days supply of food and water. Are the schools here doing something like that?
MCLAIN: No, we're not. Shelter in Place for this kind of incident is a short-term solution to a short-term problem. Should we go into some kind of catastrophic incident, we would rely on federal officials, and we also have the delivery services right in this county we could supply the schools, if they became shelters.
MESERVE: Parents are going to be frantic to get to their children. How did you deal with that, how do you communicate with them and let them know the kids are OK?
MCLAIN: They can go to our Web site. We answer questions from parents every day. We give them comprehensive information on the Web site. They can join keep in touch.
MESERVE: Can they, during an emergency, if something is ongoing? MCLAIN: Absolutely. We communicate through the media very well, and we'll get the word out to the parents. We don't want them to come to the schools. Public safety would prevent them but they need to understand, if the air is safe enough for them to breath outside, we won't confine their students or keep them from them.
MESERVE: OK, Jim McLain, thanks a lot for joining us.
A lot of planning has gone into this. They've mapped out the vulnerabilities in the county, figured out how close they are to the schools. Also done maps of the schools to find out where the critical systems are that would have to be shut down.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
