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Post by John Cline on Nov 13, 2013 15:50:44 GMT -5
My name is John Cline and I am with the Pettis Co. Sheriff's Office in Sedalia. I am also the SRO with the Sedalia 200 School District. I am currently advocating the school district I serve to start doing "un-announced" lockdown or intruder drills. Our current policy at the Sedalia 200 School District is to have two lockdown drills per school year. The drills are always announced in advance, out of concern that lockdown drills will cause undue emotional distress in our students. Our local fire department always does unannounced for drills by walking into a school building an pulling the fire alarm with just a minute or two notice to school administration. I have been working with the Assistant Superintendent of Operations for the school district in order to get un-announced intruder drills started as well. He is receptive to the idea, but has asked that I gather information form other SRO's and school districts about what their policies are regarding lockdown drills, specifically, if they are announced in advance or not. We are looking to take a presentation to our school board to show that other districts are doing un-announced lockdown drills in an attempt to more precisely replicate what would happen during a lockdown if it did not occur at a pre-arranged time, and in order to better train students from a real world perspective. If any of you could give me an idea as to what your districts are doing, it would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
John Cline
Pettis Co. S.O.
Sedalia 200 School District SRO
MSROA Region A Representative
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Post by David Vaughn on Nov 14, 2013 8:21:57 GMT -5
What we did during the initiatory phase of lockdown drills, we would meet with the entire school staff during teacher in-service, including substitute teachers, explaining the need for lockdowns. Each classroom received a packet which hung near the classroom door with emergency directions on what to do for fires, lockdown and evacuation.
After the teacher's received their lockdown training, the teachers had one week to instruct their students on this new safety protocol. If a teacher balked or needed assistance, then the Site Administrator and SRO would conduct that training presentation to the students.
We did a couple of planned lockdown drills each quarter, just as we did for fire drills AND evacuation drills.
Once we felt the staff was comfortable with the implemented lockdown procedure, the Site Administrator and SRO would initiate unplanned lockdown drills.
On each school site, we had a Safety Team in place made up of the Site Administrator and Asst Principal, Counselor, Nurse, Maintenance Staff Supervisor, Transportation Supervisor and SRO.
We, as LEO's / SRO's, replicate our professional training constantly, to maintain muscle memory. The same is true for lockdown drills. The more times these drills are conducted and then immediately assessed after the drill, students/staff become quite proficient. Staff were never told of any lockdown drill after that, as the students could immediately tell if it was a drill or not. If the students knew it was a drill, then building integrity was lost, which could cause a serious safety breach during an actual event.
Our 6 school sites were old, open space design, which mandated students crossing a large, unsecured campus throughout the course of the school day.
A final comment of undue emotional stress in behalf of the students, once they understand why lockdowns are implemented, they will quickly adhere to the strict safety protocols and follow the calm example of their teacher. The teacher is the healing balm within each classroom and as long as that adult exudes dulcet tones, the students will follow suit.
A final thought is that once student do fully understand safety protocols in their schools, they also become much more vigilant in honoring school safety, often bringing to light their observations of suspicious persons near school, not to mention inside the school building(s).
I highly recommend all SRO's, Site Administrator's and Law Enforcement Supervisors to also educate the community on the need for school lockdowns, via radio call-in shows, tv news show segments and local newspapers. The sole topic of these media events would be promote and gain public support of school lockdowns.
If you are interested in further discussions, feel free in contacting me via PM or my home email addy of: srodavid@windstream.net
David Vaughn
Gallatin Police Department
Gallatin, MO
Arizona SRO (retired)
Arizona School Resource Officer Association Central Region Representative (retired)
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Post by David Vaughn on Nov 14, 2013 8:36:21 GMT -5
If any would like some safety/lockdown guidelines developed, amended, updated, etc by our School District Site Safety team after many years, I will be most happy to share the fruits of our labors at no cost to you. Just send me a stamp for the e-mail which will have 3 documents attached.
Again, my e-mail is srodavid@windstream.net
- David
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