Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine urges schools to file safety, floor plans with his office

COLUMBUS - In light of Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Ohio’s top law enforcement officer is urging schools throughout the state to complete and submit safety and floor plans to his office.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement the plans “are critical for first responders to respond to incidents at school facilities."

The plan for each school building must:

• Address serious threats to the safety of school property, students, employees, and administrators.
• Contain a protocol for responding to emergency events, including how to notify law enforcement, emergency response, and parents and affected students. Prior to the opening day of each school year, boards must inform each student and parent of the parental notification procedures.

DeWine previously requested school districts submit plans to local officials and to his office at least twice in 2012, once on March 2 and again on Aug. 20.

Filing the plans is required under Ohio law, according to DeWine's office. Each safety plan must be updated every three years, or whenever a major modification to the building requires changes to the safety plan, according to DeWine's office.

Notable local schools that have yet to file plans

• Kinder Garden School
• Butler Technology and Career Development Schools
• Theodore Roosevelt Public Community School
• Cincinnati State STEM Academy
• North College Hill Middle School
• Hardin Community School

Regionally, there have been three incidents involving violence or shootings at schools.

In Ohio, the latest school shooting incident was at Chardon High School on Feb. 27, 2012. Gunman and student TJ Lane opened fire inside the school's cafeteria that left three students dead and two injured.

In 1994, Ryle High School student Clay Shrout, 17, took a .380-caliber pistol and killed his mother, father and his two sisters in their Florence, Ky., home. Shrout then drove his prom date’s house and kidnapped her.

Shrout took her to Ryle High School, where he held 22 students and a teacher hostage. The ordeal ended after 17 minutes when Shrout surrendered to a police officer.

In 1997, Michael Carneal, 14, fires a .22-caliber pistol at a youth prayer group meeting before the school days begins at Heath High School in Paducah, Ky. Three people were killed, and five injured. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 17.

"After the shooting that occurred earlier this year in Chardon, and several times since, I urged schools around Ohio who had not yet filed school safety plans to do so," DeWine said in a statement.

More than 1,000 Ohio schools filed plans with DeWine’s office, but as of Friday, Dec. 14 the following 144 schools have yet to do so.

Local schools that have yet to file plans

Ohio schools yet to file safety plans