Planning for terrorism.

Most school districts are ill-prepared to respond to terrorism and lack anti-terrorism training. That's according to the National Association of School Resource Officers, which is comprised of 12,000 school-based law enforcement personnel and county police. The association recently released its 2003 National School-based Law Enforcement Survey, which shows that more than 90 percent of respondents think schools ere "soft targets" for potential terror attacks.

More than 76 percent of the officers say their schools lack adequate plans to respond to terrorism and more than 51 percent stated they lack specific guidelines when there is a change in the homeland security color code/federal terrorism warning system.

Curt Lavarello, executive director of NASRO, says a new guide from the U.S. Department of Justice informs school resource officers what to do when the nation's color-coded terror alerts change.

Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, said last fall that the proposed 2004 federal budget calls for cuts in state allocations for Safe and Drug-Free School Programs, but the government is beefing up security for bridges, monuments and Capitol Hill.

"The nation's school police officers are telling public officials that school safety threats are real, the gaps in preparedness are significant, and the resources for protecting our children are decreasing at a time they are increasing elsewhere. Now is the time for federal and state officials to wake up on homeland security for our nation's schools, not after a crisis occurs that could have been prevented."

www.nasro.org, www.cops.usdoj.gov, www.nssc1.org