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Little Outward Change in Wells Schools But 9-11 Has Hiked Alertness

By JUSTIN PEEPER
Life changed little around Wells County in the days following Sept. 11, 2001.
School was not canceled.
Local sports weren’t delayed.
Businesses didn’t close their doors.
People moved on.
Almost two years later, the story remains about the same.
Sept. 11 left little noticeable difference in Wells County, but city- and county-leaders say everyone now appears more alert.
“Probably the biggest impact I’ve seen is one of awareness more than any real big shifts in behavior,” said Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis.
“I think you’re going to find generally across the board that it’s more of just a heightened awareness instead of physically doing a lot of things differently,” said Bob Plummer, Bluffton’s public safety director. “Awareness is the big thing.”
On the city level, Ellis said the biggest change he witnessed revolves around how government prepares for large emergency situations.
“Probably five years ago and before, most of the emergency preparedness .... was for individual situations, like hostage situations or individual crimes,” Ellis said. “We are now thinking more and more about some widespread horrific thing. The focus has kind of shifted.”
Employee training changed as well, Ellis said.
“I think we’re better prepared for a so-called natural disaster than we were before because of the increase level of training and focus (9/11) has brought,” he said.
City leaders, however, didn’t modify Bluffton’s day-to-day operations.
“As far as spending much if any of our time every day thinking about what if somebody targets Bluffton, that’s probably not a real productive use of our time,” Ellis said.
9/11 did not affect security at the city building either because entry there has always been limited, Ellis said.
Security changed somewhat, however, throughout Wells County schools.
Bluffton-Harrison schools, working with the Bluffton Police Department, carried out simulations at the middle school to see what would happen if an intruder or terrorist entered the building.
“We’d like to think it won’t happen here, but you have to be prepared,” said Jon Bennett, administrative assistant to the superintendent and middle school principal. “The Bluffton Police Department has been excellent in terms of working with us and communicating with us.”
All three Bluffton schools also updated their crisis plans to include procedures for terrorist attacks.
Administrators began locking doors at each building before 9/11 in response to Columbine, but Bennett has noticed an increased awareness of visitors in the building.
All guests must wear name tags and enter through the main entrance at all three schools.
“All three buildings have worked together to heighten awareness but balance that with wanting parents to feel welcome in the building,” Bennett said.
Bluffton schools, as part of the Wells County Safety Commission, along with other Wells County schools, have also conduced table-top activities to discuss safety procedures.
To increase security, Bluffton schools conducted total lockdown drills this year. The drills let students practice how to react if a terrorist or intruder were to enter the building.
The lockdown drills and heightened awareness reminded Ellis and Northern Wells Superintendent Michael Sailsbery of the Cold War era.
“There was just this nagging fear (during the Cold War) that something could go wrong, something could happen,” Ellis said. “That kind of disappeared for a little while, but I think it’s back. It doesn’t disrupt too many people’s lives, but it’s just ever present now that everybody’s just a little on edge.”
Neil Potter, superintendent at Southern Wells, said students and staff are more aware of national and world events since 9/11.
Staff has spent time discussing 9/11 and its impacts with students.
Similar to Bluffton schools, Southern Wells also updated its emergency policies and has a plan in place to get students out of the building in case of a terrorist event.
Potter said Southern Wells locked its doors before 9/11, but staff now watches the doors more closely.
“We’re a lot more aware and prepared,” Potter said.
Sailsbery said Norwell students are also more in tune with current events and what’s going on around them.
To make the school safer, Gary Drill, Norwell’s new assistant superintendent, also acts as safety officer.
“We tried to take more steps to protect students within the school environment,” Sailsbery said.
Not only are school administrators taking more steps to protect students, but so is the Bluffton Police Department.
“As far as our police work, we’re more conscious about school safety and that kind of thing,” said Robert Frantz, Bluffton police chief.
If the terror-alert level climbs to the highest mark, Frantz will put a Bluffton police officer in each Bluffton-Harrison building.
The police department, however, already has one officer who travels between the district’s three schools.
Bruce Holland spends his day in each building, but Frantz said he began this position as school resource officer before 9/11.
Holland’s job has not changed too much since 9/11, nor has the police department itself, Frantz said.
“We have not had to put on more officers,” he said.
The number of calls the department receives, however, has increased slightly because Bluffton residents now seem to pay more attention to their surroundings.
“If a stranger shows up in town and seems to be standing around looking at something, people call it in,” Frantz said. “They didn’t so much before, but people seem to be more vigilant, which is a good thing.”
Tim Schaffer, chief deputy for the Sheriff’s Department, also has noticed increased vigilance across the county.
“The public is definitely more aware of things, which is great,” he said. “We respond to calls for anything.”
Sheriff Barry Story said the Sheriff’s Department has not changed much because of 9/11, but he and his deputies have been invited to many training seminars to prepare for a terrorist incident.
Story didn’t see many changes on the county level in the future because of 9/11, but he stressed it will be important for all county agencies to work together.