Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
(none)   
SJ FB page   

Gutter Gutter
Opinion
Are We Ready To Manage The Chaos? Our Community Needs To Come Up With Plans

The headlines and breaking news are full of a mad man's attack on college students in the small community of Umpqua Community College, which could have just as easily been Ulster Community College. But it could be even closer to home; it could happen at the Ellenville Central School campus. Are we ready or are we looking through rose colored glasses and crossing our fingers?

There are four elements necessary to manage a chaos in an active shooter event. First element is staff response at the school. Second is law enforcement response. Third is EMS response. Fourth element is parental unit response.

My daughter tells me that they do lockdown drills at the school and they have training for staff. That is great but how often do ECS staff drill with law enforcement and EMS? If the staff doesn't know what these agencies want from them, then costly mistakes can happen. When seconds matter misreading the situation can be deadly. How will the teachers and administrators react in an active shooter event if they have children in the school; will they follow the protocols in place or will they revert back to the primal need to get to their offspring and protect them from harm... and who would blame if they did? I send my daughter to school each day knowing that the teachers and staff have great affection for all the children in their care and will keep them safe. I have to believe this or I would go insane.

The second element is law enforcement. Here in Ellenville we have the Ellenville Police Department, State Troopers, and Ulster County Sheriff Deputies. Have the agencies preplanned an active shooter situation at the school? If 40 police cars roll into the school campus and clog the entrances and exits of the property, how and where will the rest of the responding personnel stage? Have all the law enforcement agencies in our area spent time on the campus, and do they understand the layout of the campus both internally and externally? I hope so.

The third element is the EMS component. In our town Ellenville First Aid and Rescue is a volunteer basic life support with a paid paramedic unit on duty. Usually during the day there are three to five dedicated individuals who respond to every call from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. There are several hundred potential victims on the ECS campus on any given weekday. More responders will come from all over the county and beyond if needed, but it will take time. What's more, our volunteers are parents and grandparents of ECS students; will they be able to do the job? Will they be able to put their fears aside and do their best for the patient in front of them? Should we ask them to do it? Has EFARS, ECS staff and law enforcement worked together on plan to respond to an active shooter at the school? Can EFARS and all the law enforcement agencies even talk to each other on their radios? Can these agencies communicate with other EMS agencies that will provide mutual aid? I don't know but hope someone does.

Finally, parents need to be in the loop. Nothing happens at the school or in the village in secret; social media and cell phones guarantee that we will know something is going on almost immediately. If you cannot give them accurate information immediately you will have several hundred panicked parents arriving at the school and clogging access to the school and putting themselves and responders in danger. What is the plan for the families of students and staff? Where in the village will you stage them until they can safely be reunited with their loved ones? Can a robo-call or mass text be sent to tell parents where to go and what to do? How will law enforcement respond to parents who refuse to go to the staging area? I don't know the answers to these questions, but I hope some in the village have been thinking about these things beside me.

I call on the mayor, the chief of police, and the superintendent to come up with a comprehensive plan for our community and then share it with the citizens of Ellenville. We the citizens of Ellenville need to understand our role in an emergency such as this where there are mass casualties. Don't keep us in the dark then expect us to respond in a rational fashion when our loved ones are in danger.



Gutter Gutter





Gutter