US schools' crisis plans found in Iraq

He said there were serious questions about whether the military's find in July represented any threat; for instance, it could have come from someone innocently involved in civic planning, specifically school planning.

The CD contained an Education Department report called "Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities," published in May 2003, as well as photos and floor plans.

In a separate but more widespread warning put out this week, the Education Department advised school leaders nationwide to watch for people spying on their buildings or buses to help detect any possibility of terrorism like the deadly school siege last month in Russia.

The warning follows an analysis by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department of the siege that killed nearly 340 people, many of them students, in the city of Beslan.

"The horror of this attack may have created significant anxiety in our own country among parents, students, faculty, staff, and other community members," Eugene W. Hickok, deputy education secretary, wrote in a letter to schools and education groups.

The safety advice is based on lessons learned from the Russia event. But there is "no specific information indicating that there is a terrorist threat to any schools or universities in the United States," Hickok wrote.

Massachusetts Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll forwarded the US Education Department's letter to school superintendents in the state and urged them to work with local public safety officials.

Boston school officials said yesterday the system's 140 schools are well-prepared for any emergency. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, each school has been equipped with emergency evacuation plans and has strengthened its partnerships with local police, fire, and other emergency management offices, said Jonathan Palumbo, spokesman for Boston public schools.

Teachers and system leaders also have undergone special training on how to deal with school-related emergencies, he said.

Federal law enforcement officials have encouraged police to stay in contact with school officials.

Megan Tench of the Globe staff contributed to this report.