The Virgin Islands Department of Education’s (VIDOE) Safe Schools Program on St. Croix sponsored a training session for over 100 response team members in the school district on Oct. 27-28 at the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA) Headquarters in Christiansted.
The Understanding and Planning for School Bomb Incidents (UPSBI) training specifically focused on prevention and response to school bombing incidents. The course was broken down into four sessions for the members of the schools’ crisis teams responsible for responding to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incidents involving explosives and incendiary materials in a school environment.
Participants learned to recognize a terrorist threat and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and they learned how to respond to and mitigate those threats. Presenter Shawn Kelly, a retired fire chief and explosive expert now at New Mexico Tech, also discussed the safety issues and considerations surrounding terrorist threats.
According to Renee Hansen, Safe Schools Program manager, elementary schools sending response team members to the training included: Pearl B. Larsen, Juanita Gardine, Lew Muckle, Alexander Henderson and Claude O. Markoe. Secondary schools participating were St. Croix Central H.S., St. Croix Educational Complex, Elena Christian Jr. H.S. and Arthur A. Richards Jr. H.S.
For more information on the Understanding and Planning for School Bombing Incidents training on St. Croix, contact Hansen at 773-1095, ext. 7057.
