DECATUR - Decatur schools are in the process of updating security at all the district's buildings.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded Decatur a $199,660 grant under the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools program. Decatur is one of 92 districts in 34 states to receive the grant.

"The program focuses on planning and training people, not equipment," said Mike Sotiroff, director of buildings and grounds, who will oversee the project. "The philosophy is, if the district does have a crisis, it's the people who are well-trained who will determine if a tragedy is avoided or minimized."

Sotiroff expects the project to take about 18 months and is working with SchoolSecure, a firm in Mahomet specializing in risk management and campus security issues.

Schools already have crisis plans, he said, but the grant will allow extensive training of staff and updating of that plan.

The district has partnership agreements with all the first-responder agencies in the community to work out the most streamlined emergency response plans for any eventuality, he said.

Plans are to examine every district building for potential weaknesses and hold a districtwide exercise for practice in responding to a threat. The exercise will be videotaped, and that video can be used later for training new staff members.

"We'll be doing building-specific threat and vulnerability (assessments)," Sotiroff said. "Is it easy for a car to come too close to the front door? Is there a barrier to prevent a car from coming too close? We'll design what I would call specific solutions for each facility and then, based on that, write a detailed crisis management plan for each school."

One consideration that's new for 2008, he said, is preparing a response for infectious disease outbreaks, which is the reason behind working with the hospitals and health department.

"It's a lot of work to implement it, but it's going to help our crisis plan, so Decatur schools' crisis plan is top-notch," Sotiroff said.

Phil Anello of Macon County Emergency Management Agency congratulated Sotiroff and his staff on their willingness to pursue the grant to enhance emergency readiness.

"This type of planning the district is doing will be focused on an all-hazards approach," Anello said. "That's why it's so important; that continuity of operations is vitally important. The school district needs to know what we're doing, and we need to know what they're doing, so we can coordinate our efforts."

Valerie Wells can be reached at vwells@herald-review.com or 421-7982.