CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A few months after an explosion at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, students and teachers at every public school in Kanawha County will shelter in place this morning to practice in the event of a chemical emergency.

"We never really had a countywide drill," said Charles Gumm, an instructor at The Regulatory Training Center, which monitors safety hazards at schools and provides training to school employees, nonprofit agencies and private organizations. "This will help us to see where the rough spots are, where we need to improve."

County employees at the Board of Education office on Elizabeth Street in Charleston and the school system office at Crede will also shelter in place at 9 a.m., Gumm said. The training exercise is expected to last 30 minutes.

At Riverside High School, Principal Paula Potter imagines the nightmare of trying to move 1,300 students into the school's gymnasium. In a real emergency, she said it would be difficult to safely move teenagers and staff across the quarter-mile long building.

That's why Riverside students will remain in their classrooms during the exercise, where teachers will use plastic to seal windows and doors. "We've been cutting plastic," she said Monday afternoon.

Teachers will also check attendance to see that every student is accounted for, Potter said.

Potter doesn't expect much of a distraction, as Riverside teachers will continue their instruction shortly after 9 a.m.

"If a dangerous chemical were released in the community and posed a threat to students during the school day, we would be directed ... to bring all students and staff members indoors, including those in portables; to shut down all heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; and to close and secure all doors and windows," Overbrook Elementary Principal Barbara Floren wrote to parents in a letter. "The neutral atmospheric pressure created by these actions would create a barrier and help keep chemical agents from leaking into the building."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A few months after an explosion at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, students and teachers at every public school in Kanawha County will shelter in place this morning to practice in the event of a chemical emergency.

"We never really had a countywide drill," said Charles Gumm, an instructor at The Regulatory Training Center, which monitors safety hazards at schools and provides training to school employees, nonprofit agencies and private organizations. "This will help us to see where the rough spots are, where we need to improve."

County employees at the Board of Education office on Elizabeth Street in Charleston and the school system office at Crede will also shelter in place at 9 a.m., Gumm said. The training exercise is expected to last 30 minutes.

At Riverside High School, Principal Paula Potter imagines the nightmare of trying to move 1,300 students into the school's gymnasium. In a real emergency, she said it would be difficult to safely move teenagers and staff across the quarter-mile long building.

That's why Riverside students will remain in their classrooms during the exercise, where teachers will use plastic to seal windows and doors. "We've been cutting plastic," she said Monday afternoon.

Teachers will also check attendance to see that every student is accounted for, Potter said.

Potter doesn't expect much of a distraction, as Riverside teachers will continue their instruction shortly after 9 a.m.

"If a dangerous chemical were released in the community and posed a threat to students during the school day, we would be directed ... to bring all students and staff members indoors, including those in portables; to shut down all heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; and to close and secure all doors and windows," Overbrook Elementary Principal Barbara Floren wrote to parents in a letter. "The neutral atmospheric pressure created by these actions would create a barrier and help keep chemical agents from leaking into the building."

On Aug. 28, an explosion and fire at the Bayer CropScience plant eventually killed two workers and led thousands of area residents to shelter in place because of possible fumes from the fire.

"I think it's going to bring the awareness levels up to what everybody should be thinking about," Dale Petry, director of emergency services for Kanawha County, said of Tuesday's exercise.

Every day, chemicals shuttle in and out of the Kanawha Valley "by way of barge, train and 18-wheeler," Petry said.

Petry said every school in Kanawha County would have at least one volunteer on hand from either a fire department, police department or other agency. Some of agencies expected to participate include: Kanawha County Emergency Services/Metro 911, the City of Charleston Emergency Services, the Kanawha Putnam Emergency Planning Committee, the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management and the General Services Division of the Capitol Complex.

"I really do believe in drills for a lot of reasons," Potter said. During the first week of school at Riverside, students undergo several fire drills, she said. In August 2007, they put that practice to work after lightning caused a heating unit to burn on the second day of school.

Reach Davin White

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