By Karen Gutierrez
Enquirer staff writer

All 350 classrooms in the Covington school system soon will be equipped with five-gallon buckets of emergency supplies.

Kits will include gauze, flashlights, and whistles for marshaling students. And duct tape for everything else, including sealing off rooms.

"It's not trying to put fear into anyone, but at least we have the security of knowing we're prepared," said Mike Fitzgerald, the School Board member who requested the kits.

The possibility of terrorist attacks is remote, he said. He's more concerned with earthquakes, tornados, gas leaks, power outages or toxic plumes from train derailments.

Boone County schools also have emergency kits in classrooms as part of each school's crisis plan, spokeswoman Laurie Walton said.

But the two districts may be in the minority statewide. "I'm not aware of school districts that have gone to that length - of equipping every single classroom with an emergency preparedness kit," said Jon Akers, director of Kentucky's Center for School Safety.

Doing so probably isn't necessary, he said. But if it brings comfort to teachers, students and parents, "then I'd tell them, 'Go for it,'" Akers said.

Covington's kits, to be distributed to its eight schools by the end of the semester, are being assembled by Safety Director Henley McIntosh. The district and a federal grant are covering the $8,000 cost.

McIntosh said he had in mind every calamity from bug bites to intruders. At a recent safety conference in Washington, D.C., he learned about the lockdowns necessary at Maryland schools when two snipers were loose in 2002. If shades must be drawn and lights turned off to protect students, a flashlight might come in handy.

McIntosh selected items for the kits based on recommendations from the American Red Cross and ready.gov, the Web site operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Ready.gov suggests that people can use duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal off rooms in their homes. Studies have shown that these measures protect people from toxic chemicals more than doing nothing, the site says.

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E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com