Once again, Fayette County’s school system has become the first in the state to gain re-approval of its school safety plans by state homeland security officials.

A variety of scenarios are planned for, including a hostage situation, a fire and even a natural disaster such as a hurricane, said C.W. Campbell, safety coordinator for Fayette County Schools.

Although local schools have been very fortunate to avoid major safety incidents, it helps to be prepared for the very worst, Campbell said. There have already been several occasions where child custody disputes have spilled onto school campuses, creating a potential hazard to students and faculty, Campbell noted.

The main goal of the safety plan is to make sure that a safe environment is in place at every school so students can feel comfortable learning and teachers can feel comfortable working, Campbell said.

“If your schools are not safe, learning cannot take place,” Campbell said. “The kids want a safe environment, and the teachers want it, too.”

The school system worked hand-in-hand with Fayette County emergency management officials in preparing the plan, and that was a huge help, Campbell said.

It also benefits emergency responders because the same protocols are used at all 27 schools, said Capt. Pete Nelms of the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services. That means if Fayette County emergency units respond to assist a school located in Peachtree City, for example, they know exactly what to expect, Nelms said.

Each school also has its own individual safety plan, with faculty and staff designated to various roles, Campbell said.

Fayette’s plan has been used as a model for other school systems in Georgia, Campbell noted. Office of Homeland Security-Georgia Emergency Management Agency State School Safety Coordinator Mark Muma said that Campbell, Nelms and county Fire Chief Jack Krakeel have been extremely helpful in developing the plans. He also credited Campbell for being “instrumental in improving the safety of the schools as well as seeking new technology for the faculty and staff to improve student safety.”

Next year, the school system’s entire safety quick-flip book will be on each teacher’s computer desktop so they can refer to it in a flash, Campbell said. Already, teachers’ school IDs have a list of what actions should be taken depending on the color code announced during a situation, he noted.

One code calls for the school classrooms to be locked down. Another calls for the school to be evacuated.

Should the need ever arise, Fayette schools also have a plan to evacuate students away from school campuses entirely using school buses, Campbell said. Hopefully that system won’t ever be needed, he added.

If a serious incident occurs at a local school, parents should tune in to local TV and radio stations to learn where to meet up with their children, Campbell said.

The school system has also undergone special training courses for school safety. Middle and high school administrators have taken courses on spotting visual cues for persons carrying a weapon. Bus drivers have received training on visually inspecting their buses for suspicious material before operation; that safety class also made the drivers more aware of general security issues, Campbell said.

Administrators have also received training on gang awareness, as there are 44 documented gangs in neighboring Clayton County and another 17 in Spalding County, Campbell added. So far, none have been identified here, but Campbell routinely forwards new gang-related information to administrators to keep them aware of the latest developments.

“We really try to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Campbell said of gang activity.

School officials have also been trained on the operation of the National Incident Management System, which was required in a directive from President George W. Bush for local emergency agencies to use to provide seamless emergency services, Nelms said.

The coordination between county emergency officials and the school system has already paid off, officials said. Thanks in large part to the hurricane tracking of the National Weather Service, officials decided correctly to close school before the eye of a hurricane last year hit the area with heavy rain and high winds.

The decision was made to cancel school so students wouldn’t be endangered either coming to school or heading home, Campbell said.

The schools are also working with local law enforcement to enhance safety, and the school resource officers provided by the police and sheriff’s departments help tremendously, Campbell said.

Police also have access to special computer software called VIPER, which provides blueprints and numerous photos of each school just in case, for example, the SWAT team has to go in and hunt down a suspect or paramedics need to reach an injured student, Campbell said. There are aerial photos in addition to pictures of views down every hallway and entryway. And this information on all 27 schools is all on one CD that can be read by any laptop computer.

“They can have an idea, if they’re going in there, about what they’re going to do,” Campbell said, adding that VIPER is a significant tool.

The school system is also working with the Fayetteville Police and Fayette County Sheriff’s Department to conduct more K-9 searches of school grounds for illegal drugs, Campbell said.

“If the dogs do get a ‘hit’ then we will deal with that,” said Campbell, who is also in charge of discipline for the school system.

All of the system’s middle and high schools are also outfitted with security cameras, which can go a long way toward telling the truth of what really happened during a given incident, Campbell noted. There are also video cameras on the school buses, he added.

The county’s middle and high schools also use devices to determine the heat index at football practice to make sure athletes aren’t overworked. The schools also use special handheld lighting “detectors” that can warn a coach to get his or her team inside before a storm hits.

The county also funds the presence of Emergency Medical Technicians at all middle school and high school football games and at graduation ceremonies, Campbell noted.

Many local schools also have Automated External Defibrillators which can save the life of a person who goes into cardiac arrest or another heart ailment. The AEDs the system uses were selected in part because their leads (the cords going from the patient’s chest to the monitor) are compatible with the AED units used by the fire department, Nelms said.

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