Schools Plan Responses To Bioterrorism

By Darcia Harris Bowman

It took only one anthrax-related death in faraway Florida to convince Lawrence Township district officials that they needed to buffer their Indianapolis-area schools against biological terrorism.

Assistant Superintendent Duane Hodgin promptly called in a team of local emergency workers to review response plans for biological and chemical threats. In mid-October, officials of the 16,000-student district sent updated safety procedures and basic information about anthrax to every administrator, teacher, and staff member. And principals warned students and parents that anthrax pranksters would be arrested and jailed.

"We knew it was only a matter of time before someone called in a threat or a hoax, and we wanted to have procedures in place before that...