Access Control
& Security Systems

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge have unveiled a new section on the U.S. Department of Education's Web site designed to help school officials plan for any emergency, including natural disasters, violent incidents and terrorist acts.

In addition to the Web site ( www.ed.gov/emergencyplan) Paige also announced that $30 million is available this fiscal year to help school districts improve and strengthen emergency response and crisis management plans. The Department of Education has worked with several agencies to develop a model emergency response and crisis management plan, which will be released in late March.

Some of the preventative measure it suggests are vulnerability assessments; coordinating with neighboring facilities; access control; traffic control; and evacuation routes.

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