FBI, MU sponsor school violence conference

HUNTINGTON -- The message state law enforcement and education officials took away from the first day of a conference on school violence was to be prepared for a disaster even though it may never come.

"It can happen here just as easy as it happened in Jonesboro (Ark.)," Lt. Rick Elliott of the Jonesboro Police Department said.

"Responding to School Violence: Moving from Compliance to Implementation" is a two-day program presented by the FBI in partnership with Marshall University. More than 200 law enforcement and school officials are attending the conference. Its purpose is to challenge attendees to move beyond having an emergency operations plan to working with relevant agencies to implement it.

Elliott was with the Jonesboro department on March 24, 1998, when two middle school students opened fire on their classmates from the woods about 95 yards from the Westside Middle School campus. Four students and a teacher were killed.

But he said the school had implemented a disaster plan, and each classroom was equipped with disaster preparedness kits that included medical and other supplies, which were useful to some students during and after the attack.

"Of all the presentations I've done, this is what school administrators walk away with, the idea of a disaster kit," Elliott said.

During the morning session, former FBI special agent Sue Mencer talked about the lesson learned from the Columbine High School tragedy in Colorado. After the shooting that claimed the lives of 12 students and a teacher, Mencer was appointed to the Governor's Columbine Review Commission to determine whether law enforcement's response was adequate.

The commission's findings was that the responders had systems that did not communicate with each other.

"More than 500 officers descended on the school, but no one could talk to each other," Mencer said. "They had 2,000 crying, screaming, hysterical kids running from the school."

Moreover, law enforcement did not have updated blueprints, and a school board official had to take control of the scene because the sheriff couldn't handle it, she said.

Mencer challenged West Virginia law enforcement agencies and schools to work with one another in updating blueprints and knowing the access points for the school. She also urged officials to practice their emergency plans.

"You play like you practice. That's what we do in sports," she said. "You can have the greatest plan in the world, but if you don't practice it, it's not worth a thing."

Parkersburg High School principal Ralph Board said his school has a plan in place, and it is practiced multiple times each year. The school also is adding a freshman class next year, which will bring its student population to close to 2,000.

"We're constantly looking to improve our emergency response plan," Board said. "You can never anticipate what's going to happen."

Today, Todd Alexander from Cabell County Schools will talk about oversight and campus safety, and Harrison County officials will lead interactive discussions on developing contingency plans for reducing security risks.

The director and assistant director of Cabell County EMS also will speak on mass casualty response and communications.