Update - Oct. 5, 2006 - Trustee Training

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Media Release | October 5, 2006

VI Trainer introduced the WCSD Trustees to the basic principles of the Incident Command System (ICS).

About the Training

The ICS/NIMS course was part of the on-going emergency preparedness and response training offered though Visual Imagry, Inc. as part of their contract with the District.

The WCSD was awarded a $959,950 grant from the U.S. Department of Education designed to improve school security and the district's ability to respond to emergencies on November 11, 2005.

On January 24, 2006, Visual Imagry, Inc, was selected as the contractor responsible for providing emergency preparedness and response services for the district. Some of the services they are providing will include: inventorying all schools and other WCSD facilities; collecting school-site data including digital photographs; adding floor plans from each school and integrate them into an interactive electronic database. Visual Imagry is also responsible for providing emergency preparedness training for school administrators and emergency management staff.

	School Board Trustees Participate in a Emergency Preparedness and Response Training Course Reno, Nevada - What actions would the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees be required to take during a school emergency incident? How and who would contact them during an emergency that could impact the District? To help answer those questions, the trainer introduced the Trustees to the importance of emergency preparedness during a three-hour emergency response training course entitled, Introduction to National Incident Command System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) and the Role of the School Board Member. “Emergencies occur every day somewhere in the United States and each incident requires a response,” explained one member of Visual Imagry's training team. “Emergency preparedness is critical to emergency management. Preparedness is implemented through a cycle of planning, training, and equipping, exercising, evaluating and taking action to correct and mitigate." Police Chief Mike Mieras said that this training was designed to introduce the Board of Trustees to the importance of ICS training for administrators and he hopes it will provide the ground work for the District to develop "an integrated, community-wide approach to emergency planning." Other topics covered in the course included discussion about WCSD Emergency Operations Center (EOC) policies, policy limitations, environmental concerns and cost considerations. School Board of Trustee members who participated in the three-hour intensive emergency response training course were: Dan Carne (District A); Nancy Hollinger (District B); Galen "Mitch" Mitchell (District C); Jonnie Pullman (District D); Board President Jody Ruggiero (District E); Lezile Porter (District F); and Barbara Price (District G/At-Large). Link to WCSD web site - Board of Trustees Background