REVVING UP EMERGENCY PLANNING DISTRICT COMMAND CENTER SET.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Palmdale School District staff will undergo training to run a command center as part of a more coherent approach to responding to emergencies.

For more than a year, a group of staffers called DIRT, for District Incident Response Team, have been working to improve the district's capacity to respond to incidents big and small in a consistent way.

``We've had bits of pieces in place for a long time, but nothing that was one coherent plan that was reviewed regularly and rehearsed,'' Deputy Superintendent Lori Ordway-Peck said. ``The problem with any of these kinds of plans, their value is in the training that goes into them. If it's a plan that sits on a shelf then it's not terribly helpful.''

In a presentation to the board at the Oct. 18 meeting, DIRT members told trustees that the district's emergency manual had not been updated since 1987 and that nowadays schools might be the target of terrorist attacks.

The presentation included a rundown of incidents at district schools in the past year, including police chases that ended at school fences, fires on campuses, crime in surrounding neighborhoods, gas leaks, flooding, a stray dog biting an employee, children hit by cars, and schools used as staging areas for helicopters or law enforcement command posts.

DIRT members trained last school year with county education officials on the Standardized Emergency Management System.

Palmdale, like other districts, is mandated to integrate the SEMS model of managing emergencies into its emergency response plan, the result of a state law passed more than five years ago. It's a condition for the district to receive assistance during an emergency and receive Federal Emergency Management Agency funds after an emergency.

``It's the same model used by the fire and sheriff's departments. It's basically meant to be a tiered system. What we do feeds into what they do, and into the county and state level,'' Ordway-Peck said.

``Preparedness is the name of the game. We need to be prepared for any kind of emergency that would impact schools. We need to work as a team,'' said Gus Frias, coordinator of school safety programs for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. ``Every year they have to do exercises to update their plan. That's the type of training we conduct for schools throughout the county.''

Ordway-Peck said 9-11 was in the back of people's minds as the group started its efforts.

``9-11 played into our thinking as we were trying to form ourselves. 9-11 was part of what motivated us to go in this direction,'' Ordway-Peck said.

One of the goals of DIRT is to make sure every employee is prepared for any emergency - well-trained, updated regularly with information necessary to respond, and completely outfitted with equipment and supplies.

``This is a restructuring of existing teams that we've already had as far as crisis planning. We felt the need to restructure because we need to have a more organized approach to deal with crisis planning and the review of incidents that may occur,'' said Julie Ferebee, director of health services.

Part of the process will include forming mini-DIRT teams at each of the district's schools, Ferebee said.

Tasks for this school year include finalizing supply lists at all schools; developing a consistent management system for radios and phones; training staff using an incident response procedures handbook; and developing the capacity to run an incident command center, records show.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com