EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

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EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

 

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Federal program seeks to reach children

 

February 23, 2006

Andres R. Martinez

The Monitor

 

The federal government hopes cartoon mountain lions will do for emergency preparedness what Smokey the Bear did for wildfire prevention and McGruff the Crime Dog did for crime.

 

Ready Kids, a program the Department of Homeland Security unveiled in early February, uses flashy graphics and mountain lions dressed as humans in hopes of preparing fourth-graders to middle-schoolers for natural disasters, terrorism and fires. Its not part of a curriculum, but DHS hopes teachers and parents will use it to stress skills government officials believe are essential in a post-9/11 world.

 

Some local school districts are already ahead of the curve when it comes to updating emergency planning.

 

The Mission and Edinburg school boards approved new emergency plans last week, ahead of a state deadline for all school districts. The state mandate includes recommendations DHS has already made.

 

Texas is requiring training for all faculty and administrators in the new emergency plans before the 2006-07 school year. Schools are required to do security assessments of district buildings every three years, among other requirements.

 

Ready Kids may be the first program to offer interactive tools, games and graphics to educate children about what to do in emergencies, but it isnt breaking new ground, said Mission school district spokesman Craig Verley. Its just organizing the information in a new way, he said.

 

Missions new emergency guidelines already include many of DHSs recommendations and the departments National Response Plan, he said.

 

"(Ready Kids) is what the American Red Cross has been saying all along in terms of being prepared," Verley said. "In a way, everyone is starting to talk the same language. Which is kind of nice."

 

The thick binders full of emergency plans cannot address every situation, said Mario Salinas, Edinburgs assistant superintendent.

 

"Its not an answer to everything, its just a general guide," Salinas said. And although Ready Kids may be redundant to what they already have, it might touch on some new issues, he said.

 

Superintendent J.L. Salinas had not sat down to evaluate Ready Kids, but was optimistic that his district might have some use for it.

 

"If you put the message in a cartoon form, you present it in a way many kids can like," he said. "Perhaps it is something an elementary school teacher can incorporate."

 

Some of DHS partners for Ready Kids, like the Boy Scouts, say they are already teaching whats in Ready Kids.

 

Boy Scouts must earn a emergency preparedness merit badge to become an Eagle Scout, the highest level of Scout. Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts can also earn badges and pins, like the ReadyMan, for first aid, CPR and other emergency training, said Jim Franz, executive coordinator for the Arrowhead district of the Boy Scouts. Arrowhead covers McAllen to Zapata.

 

"We hope they choose to embrace these types of things," Franz said. It comes down to whether individual volunteer parents who lead Boy Scout troops want to use Ready Kids, he said.

 

The Tip of Texas Girl Scouts, which covers the Rio Grande Valley, had not received information on Ready Kids yet, said spokeswoman Nancy Gonzalez. Any help from the government is welcomed, she said, and the Tip of Texas will pass it on to local groups, just like the Boy Scouts plan to do.

 

DHS will provide 125,000 teachers in the largest 25 metropolitan areas with teaching materials to prepare children for natural disasters, terrorism and everyday crime. They paired with Scholastic Inc., the education company, to produce posters and other tools for classroom use.

 

 

 

Andres R. Martinez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.