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MOUNDSVILLE - Glen Dale Police Chief Norman Stenger has advice for Marshall County Schools administrators when dealing with an emergency: Call 911.

During an emergency protocol review meeting with school principals, administrators and law enforcement Wednesday morning, Stenger criticized Superintendent Fred Renzella's decision not to call Marshall County 911 during Sept. 28 bomb threats at John Marshall High School and Sherrard Middle School.

"I think it was deplorable," Stenger said. "I am embarrassed to be sitting here reiterating this to you all."

Noting that 20 minutes elapsed after a threatening note was found by a John Marshall student before Glen Dale police were called, Stenger said 911 should have been dialed first, as dictated in the Marshall County Schools Emergency Response Plan.

"If we were to be critiqued by someone, we would have failed," Stenger said of how the situation was handled.

Renzella previously said he called law enforcement directly, starting with the West Virginia State Police. He later admitted that was an error on his part, noting he was trying to alert many officials simultaneously.

"It's one thing to create a policy, but you must not violate that policy," Stenger said. "That was done."

Marshall County 911 Director Larry Newell said, after the threats, his dispatchers also reviewed the schools response plan.

"The first comment I got (from the dispatchers) was, 'They didn't follow their procedures,'" Newell said.

"If you don't want Glen Dale (police) to come, send a letter," Stenger added while briefly talking about a phone conversation he had with Renzella last week.

Renzella did not respond to Stenger's comments during the meeting.

The threatening note was found in a John Marshall High School bathroom, targeting that school in Glen Dale and Sherrard Middle School in Sherrard. West Virginia State Police, the Marshall County Sheriff's Department and the Glen Dale Police Department responded, and both schools were evacuated.

Since then, issues regarding emergency and evacuation procedures have arisen. Chief Deputy Kevin Cecil pointed out that the student who found the note gave it to a teacher who, in turn, instructed the student to take the note to the principal's office.

In addition, John Marshall students left the school on buses parked on the school grounds, in their own cars or by walking because it was already close to dismissal time when the note was found.

Since then, the fact that there is no concrete evacuation plan at John Marshall has prompted emergency officials to suggest definite emergency and evacuation plans for the safety of the students.

Among the suggestions discussed during the meeting were the importance of pulling the fire alarm in all emergencies that require an evacuation. Cecil and West Virginia State Police Sgt. Tom Wood said doing so would be more beneficial to staff than using the emergency codes in place at some schools because codes get confusing. Law enforcement and emergency officials also said every school needs to establish an emergency command center, instruct teachers to take any threats to principals personally, have nearby facilities available to house evacuees and develop and drill an evacuation procedure.

"That way your staff and students are aware of the procedures," said Marshall County Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Hart.

Hart said school administrators also need to practice the emergency procedures they learned in Incident Command System training, which they took last year. He is working to make this training available to school staff as well.

One concern among principals was the ParentLink calls that were sent out during the threat. Two ParentLink messages, which give parents important school notifications via phone or e-mail, were sent out. Central Elementary School Principal Karen Klamut said neither she nor her staff received the first ParentLink call sent out, leaving them unaware of the situation when parents who did receive the call began contacting her school for information.

"That kind of, in basic terms, makes me look pretty stupid," Klamut said. "We just have to be sure the call is made."

Other principals agreed with Klamut that they did not get the ParentLink call.

Marshall County Schools' West Virginia Education Information System contact Joan Palmer said she was not aware that those calls were not made but would look into it. She added that she is working with ParentLink to generate passwords for the system so that parents, principals and staff could add as many phone numbers to the list as they wish.

Wood said law enforcement agencies soon will be visiting each school to review emergency evacuation procedures and take a look at each school's layout and security systems. He suggested each principal provide maps of their schools as well.