WEXFORD COUNTY — Wednesday night, The Manton Board of Education met to approve their Emergency Operation Plan for the next two years.
According to the Michigan Legislature, every school in the state has to review their emergency operations plan with law enforcement.
Manton Consolidated Schools SRO Kolby Moore said that the plan is constantly being assessed to make sure everyone is up to date on recent events and crises.
While the school can not go into specifics of their plan due to safety concerns, there are overall requirements for schools in the state.
Superintendent Leonard Morrow said that what the state is looking for is what the schools plans are in case of an emergency and emerging emergencies. He adds the plan varies, whether it is weather emergency, or a safety emergency.
Schools were first given general schools safety plans in the 1990’s, but, the most recent iteration, called the Emergency Operation Plan, came about in 2019.
Manton has been revising their plan for 20 year.
One part of the plan you may remember for schools is emergency drills, but that is only a small part of what actually makes up the Emergency plan.
“Drills are done by the staff and students, to practice what they would do in case of an emergency,” Morrow said. “The plans are all the things that go along with those drills....But the plan itself is much more in depth. For example, there is a reunification plan. What would happen in case, we were to relocate kids and, reunify them with their parents and things. ”
Schools must approve their plan by the end of January.