Posted: 05/02/07

St. Michael’s seeks to reform emergency regulations
Major changes will take place

Izabela Socha | photo editor
isocha@smcvt.edu

In the wake of the Virginia Tech murders, many schools have begun to review their own emergency response guidelines and are currently making plans to further fortify pre-existing plans.

St. Michael’s College has a standardized emergency response plan to possible emergency situations such as fire emergencies, bomb threats, explosions, hazardous material spills, extreme weather and many others that could potentially take place. According to Dean of Students Michael Samara, there are about 30 “Red Books” on campus; a "Red Book" is a compilation of regulated, emergency response instructions to such circumstances.

Who regulates emergency plans?

There are 30 "Red Books" around campus offices which include a set of guidelines to all emergency situations. (Izabela Socha, photo)

Questions arose around many school campuses of whether a situation of this magnitude was foreseen in emergency response manuals and trainings. Peter Soons, director of safety and security at St. Michael’s, has been drafting a special document named “Active Shooter/Hostile Intruder Guideline,” designed specifically for the St. Michael’s campus since October 2006.

“It hit home that it could happen close by; there was a shooting at the Essex school, so it was timely,” Soons says.

Although it is still in draft form, the document is being finalized and will contain information such as what an active shooter incident is, how the incidents normally evolve, and what the normal response on campus would be. Also, because it would quickly become a police incident, how individuals should respond and what they should do in case they find themselves in this type of situation, Soons says.

“It will have a document that we would circulate in the community and it would give the members of our community some things to think about should an incident like this happen,” Soons says.

Soons began to draft these guidelines in response to an incident that occurred at an Essex, Vt. school where a gunman went on a shooting rampage on Aug. 24, 2006. Even though St. Michael’s has not established the document as an official piece of its code and regulation manuals, it is currently working to do so.

The new St. Michael’s task force

In coordination with local authorities, St. Michael's has its own ambulance and fire servies to respond in emergency situations in the surrounding communities. (Izabela Socha, photo)

The week following the Virginia Tech incident, St. Michael’s President Marc vanderHeyden formulated a special advisory task force to re-establish and formulate new regulations for emergency responses on our campus.

“The president assigned a task force to make recommendations to the cabinet for short term and long term enhancements to our already existing plans,” Soons says.

The task force includes Samara as the chair; Peter Soons; Jeff Trumbower, from academic affairs and dean of the college; Richard Battistoni; David Cutler, from physical plant; Lou Dimasi, from residential life; Linda Hollingdale, from counseling; Buff Lindau, from public relations; Anne Conaway-Peters, from the marketing office; John Paine, from library services; Michael New, from human resources; and Billie Miles and Bill Anderson from information technology.

Samara says that this task force will be investigating the existing regulations.

“Essentially we are reviewing all of our emergency crisis management efforts,” Samara says. “At the first meeting for example we basically took an inventory of all of the crisis management efforts that are already being undertaken on campus and we had a discussion about technologies for current and future possibilities.”

Communication with faculty, staff and students with a clear notification plan for crisis situations was one of the main dialogues. Some ideas included implementation of swipe-card exterior doors, and prevention training for faculty and staff.

“Our goal is to make recommendations at the conclusion of our meeting for both immediate improvement possibilities and long term improvement possibilities and to make those recommendations to the president and the cabinet for their deliberation,” Samara says.

Samara admits that although he believes some faculty and staff are well aware of this “Red Book,” he does not believe many are familiar with it because it was developed many years ago. He says that this is something that the task force will concentrate so that everyone in administrative positions will be well aware of proper procedures if something was to occur.

Local crisis assistance

St. Michael’s College security has close relations with many police agencies in the jurisdiction of Chittenden County. Lt. Douglas Allen, patrol commander for the Colchester Police Department, says he and Soons meet regularly to go over security measures on campus and converse several times a week about incidents on campus.

The full-time St. Michael's Rescue team is lead by students 24 hours a day. (Izabela Socha, photo)

Allen says that although Colchester Police has limited man-power, any sort of emergency on campus, local authorities from the closest towns would assist legal efforts in a matter of minutes including Winooski and Colchester and many others. He says that because St. Michael’s has its own ambulance services, the school has a lot of good options to solving many emergency crises.

“We have working relationships with every department in the county and that includes Vermont State Police, Chittenden County Sheriffs Department, South Burlington, any agency you can think of in the county,” Allen says.

He says that after the Columbine shootings, Colchester Police began coordinating drills and emergency training efforts to be prepared for any sort of active shooter situations. They have been using utilizing their new procedures and trainings for about five years. At the Essex shootings of 2006, Colchester Police involved their services in every aspect of immediate action and investigations.

The relationship between St. Michael’s, local and state government officials is extremely solidified and there is a deep level of assistance within the Chittenden County jurisdiction. There are special force teams locally and statewide that could assist with any extreme emergency situation in need of dire assistance.