crisis management bag gives school staff a weapon in emergencies

An improved crisis management plan designed specifically for area schools was developed prior to the start of the current 2007/2008 school year.

Among the implementations to come out of the pre-school year review and training session by the faculty and staff at local schools was the idea for a crisis management tool bag.

An innovation of Deputy Leah Loveday, the School Resource Officer at the Sevierville Primary School, the crisis management tool bag is designed to help teachers and staff to be better equipped and organized in the event of an emergency or a crisis situation if such an occurrence should happen during school hours.

The crisis management bag contains items that are deemed necessary and/or useful should an emergency situation unfold. The staff and teachers have all of the items together in one place so less time and thought is required for "getting everything together" should a crisis situation arise with no warning.

The saved time created by the convenience of the crisis management bag would-ideally-leave more time for the school-staff to get the students to safety in such an unforeseen situation.

 "The crisis management tool bag is an excellent way for teachers to be prepared for unexpected emergencies during school," said Susanne Henry, a fourth grade teacher at the Seymour Intermediate School.

The crisis management bag was developed to be used for practically any emergency situation that could hypothetically occur in a school setting, such as severe weather, natural and unnatural hazards, as well as evacuations and fire.

Consisting of a canvas-type tote bag, the crisis management bag contains two pencils, two pens, one Jr. legal pad, one pad of "sticky notes", one black Sharpie marker, and one large envelope. Items for the bag supplied by the school include, one copy of the crisis management plan, two red and two green 8.5 X 11 laminated color cards, one complete set of student (class room) emergency cards, one flashlight, one pocket folder (student emergency cards), and five student sign-out sheets, along with various personal items (teacher preference).

 "We want to thank all the local businesses that have donated items to this project and others in the past," said Officer David Lamon, the School Resource Officer at the Seymour Intermediate School. "We're very appreciative to those businesses for their continuing support for our school and the safety of our children."

The local businesses that made the crisis management bags possible for the area school's use include, Mountain National Bank (Angelene D. Lamy, Branch Manager); Tennessee State Bank (Gus Floodquist, Branch Manager); Bank East (Bill W. Beeler, Branch Manager) Citizens National Bank (Jay Montgomery, Asst. Branch Manager); Sevier County Bank (Ronda Gibson, Asst. Branch Manager); Home Federal Bank of Tennessee (Larry Stoffle, Branch Manager); Branch Banking & Trust Co. (Pat Krogmann, Asst. Vice President); and Papa Johns Pizza.