ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604260072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
Two physically disabled seventh-graders were left in an Alexandria school when all the other students were evacuated for a bomb scare.
Officials at George Washington Middle School acknowledged the incident Wednesday, but said they followed fire and other emergency evacuation procedures Tuesday by placing the disabled students and a school aide in a fire-resistant ``safe room'' to wait for firefighters to come remove them.
Because it was a bomb scare, though, no firefighters showed up at the school, and the two female students and aide remained in the room, unaware of what was happening, for 90 minutes while the building was searched for a bomb.
No bomb was found, and the students were not hurt, but the mother of one of the girls criticized educators for their handling of the situation.
``How could this happen?'' asked Kathy Kyger, whose 12-year-old daughter, Cady Shirey, is affected by dwarfism and needs help getting around.
``There was nobody looking out for her safety,'' Kyger said.
Cady said school officials didn't tell the girls what was happening, either during or after the evacuation. ``When we found out ... it was a bomb threat, we felt really creepy,'' she said. ``We could have been killed.''
Officials said the safe-room policy protects students with limited mobility from the threat of being trampled during an evacuation.
Officials did not release the name of the second girl.
Two School Board members said the policy should be re-examined, but said they generally supported the actions of school officials.
``It appears that the students were in no real jeopardy,'' said board member V. Rodger Digilio. ``There are gaps in the policies. It would be good for us to revisit them. And there needs to be better communication'' with parents and children.
According to police and school officials, someone telephoned the school just after noon and said there was a bomb in the cafeteria. Police advised school officials to evacuate the 1,100-student building, and a fire alarm was sounded.
Cady said that while she was in the safe room - which is heavily reinforced to resist fire damage - an assistant principal opened the door, saw them and abruptly left. They saw no one else until the search ended.
``It almost seemed like nobody cared,'' Cady said, adding that the room is almost on top of the cafeteria, where the caller said the bomb was placed.
Cady said she and the other girl, who has muscular problems and walks with crutches, could have walked out of the building after the others left.
Officials said the school system's emergency procedures meet state and federal standards, but School Board member Patricia A.M. Hennig advocated a review of the policies in the aftermath of Tuesday's confusion.
``Let's get the experts in and make sure that we have the best policy,'' she said. ``Let's look at this as a learning experience.''
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