By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

MASON - School officials from eight counties in Southwest Ohio studied Tuesday whether crisis plans they implemented following 9-11 are effective.

"It's not about seeing if you know what to do or if you make a mistake - we're not playing 'gotcha' here," said Al Yaworske of Titan Corp.

His firm, which specializes in homeland security preparedness, was contracted by the Ohio Emergency Management Agency to help Ohio schools conduct workshops on planning for terrorism.

"What we're shooting for here is a no-fault learning environment," Yaworske said at the Kings Island Resort, where area first responders and representatives of more than 35 area schools gathered.

A safety team from Oak Hills High School applied its crisis plan in response to Tuesday's scenario, in which area law enforcement personnel uncovered evidence of a possible attack with a weapon of mass destruction.

"What we're trying to do is see if Oak Hills has a good safety plan," said Robert Canning, assistant director for the Ohio Resource Network for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities, with headquarters at the University of Cincinnati.

Canning has been training police officers and teachers on school safety issues since 1991. So it was a perfect fit, he said, for the network to assume the responsibility of finding money and venues for schools to practice their crisis plans.In August 1999, Ohio schools were mandated by law to have comprehensive safety plans.Tuesday's workshop was funded by a $100,000 grant from Ohio Homeland Security and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

The workshop was the first of 10 to be held in Ohio this year and in 2005. All of the Ohio workshops are being coordinated by the UC-based Ohio Resource Network for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and the Ohio Department of Education.

Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont, Clinton, Brown, Highland and Fayette county schools and first responders were invited to the workshop.