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Howard Schools to Plan Pandemic Preparedness

(The Examiner) -- Officials developing plan for how messages will be issued to community, staff
By Tawanda W. Johnson, Examiner Staff Writer

Howard county school officials are developing a plan on how messages will be communicated to the community and staff during a flu pandemic.

Two school committees will work with the Community Emergency Response Network in the county, which conducts mock disaster drills in the health community and the county Health Department.

"I think a plan for the school system is extremely important, because we all know that children are susceptible to viruses," said Richard Krieg, chairman of CERN.

"The goal is to come up with a plan in September, and the committees will continue to meet over the summer and talk about long-range and short-range emergency responses," said Sydney Cousin, superintendent of schools.

Called a "pandemic response matrix," the information will include the identification of key staff in vairrious school offices.

In addition to the matrix, the committees will study ways to keep the school system's program and system operations running by recommending a contingency fund to pay for supplies and technology hardware to sustain the system.

Cousin said the preparedness plan also will include costs the school system would have to pay for backup generators.

Recommendations will be presented to the School Board.

tjohnson@baltimoreexaminer.com