Civil Defense creates team to keep schools safe

by Jolene Toves

Guam - The Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy as well as recent incidents that have occurred at our local schools has served as a wakeup call and has prompted the creation of a special committee that gathered for their first official meeting on Thursday at the Office of Civil Defense in Agana Heights. The Guam Homeland Security has taken proactive approach to maintaining safety in our island's schools, creating the school safety planning team. The team consists of various experts throughout the Government of Guam.

Those experts include representatives from the Guam Fire Department, Guam Police, the Judiciary of Guam, GMH, representatives from the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Guam Customs and representatives from the Attorney General's Office. Customs and Quarantine Major David Flores told KUAM News, "It was incumbent upon this administration to put together a team to look into how we can best address any type of active shooter or incident, and that's what we are doing today."

Attending today's meeting was Superior Court Marshal Vince Naputi, who says the program is about a complete team approach to ensure our island's schools and children are safe. "We are still trying to get all the key stakeholders together. And so I think in light of what happened in Sandy Hook, I believe we are heading in the right direction because now its and island response not just one single law enforcement agencies such as the Guam Police Department. It needs to be everybody."

The creation of the school safety team gets high marks from Department of Education superintendent Jon Fernandez. "The training for our teachers one is to help us better plan in emergencies and also down the road to better coordinate in the event of an incident just looking at the protocols how we coordinate what they can do help us help me as the superintendent help the school," he explained.

While today's official meeting was the first of many more to come, Major Flores says the key to adverting incidents from occurring is "if you see something say something". For the time being, the school safety team will meet monthly.