School Lockdown Tested Security Reponses

By Susan Coney

When a single shot was fired harmlessly into a tree at a home on Berkshire Road across from Newtown High School last Friday, the Newtown School district went into an automatic lockdown as a precaution to a possible dangerous situation. Superintendent Evan Pitkoff was having lunch with the faculty at Reed Intermediate School when he was notified by School Resource Officer Dana Schubert about the incident. He responded by calling a districtwide lockdown.

While the lockdown was short in length, lasting approximately ten minutes, the experience provided school and town officials with much useful information. The lockdown was the first time that Newtown Schools has ever had to respond to a real situation and go into a true lockdown mode. Accounts from staff and administrators throughout the district confirm that the lockdown went smoothly.

Assistant Superintendent Alice Jackson said that in the event of an emergency lockdown situation she remains at the central office as a contact person and Superintendent Pitkoff goes to the site of the emergency. In this instance Dr Pitkoff was notified that the incident did not take place on a school site, however a lockdown was in place as a precaution.

The school district is very guarded about revealing the security procedures for certain types of emergencies, however detailed policies are in place to respond to all kinds of emergencies. Every year students are guided through a series of practice drills to ensure their safety in the event of an actual emergency. Students routinely practice exiting the building and buses for fire drills, as well as practicing drills in the event of a high wind advisory from the National Weather Service or a lockdown emergency. “Our intent is to make it as routine and smooth running as possible,” said Ms Jackson.

There are different levels of lockdown drills. If students are outside for recess, lunch, or physical education class, they are immediately brought inside the building. All of the doors of the building are secured and no one is permitted to enter or exit the building during any type of lockdown.

In a full lockdown an announcement is made and students remain in locked classrooms seated together on the floor in a corner of the room away from doors and windows for the entire length of the lockdown. All students are pulled from the exterior of the building, from hallways and restroom areas and brought to an area of safety where an adult supervises them. In a modified lockdown, all students remain in the building, the school is locked and no one is allowed to enter or exit the building but classes run normally.

Ms Jackson stressed that parents should not try to come to a school during a lockdown to try to remove their children. “We have an emergency banner on our district website. We immediately post the emergency information. The minute we are in any kind of situation people can check the website. This is true for school closings due to snow or early dismissals,” Ms Jackson said. The district website is www.newtown.k12.ct.us.

Reed Intermediate principal Donna Denniston stated that because of the shocking school shooting in 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado the possibility of violence taking place in the school setting gained national attention. “I think Columbine spawned an entire investigation on how schools procedurally handle and respond to dangerous situations and sometimes when we go with our instincts they are not the correct response. We learned a lot in from that terrible situation,” Ms Denniston said.

Ms Denniston went on to say that while the situation last Friday was disturbing, it did serve a purpose by providing the district with the chance to see how each school responds in the event of a real emergency. Ms Denniston said, “Interestingly enough it happened during the lunch wave when we had approximately 250 students in the cafetorium. The teachers eating in the faculty lunchroom were notified and they got up from their lunch and went to help supervise the students in the cafetorium. Knowing that the threat was at the high school we had our resource officer Dana Schubert who was in constant contact with the police department to keep us apprised of the situation.

“This gives us an opportunity to look for any holes in the system and review how the situation was handled,” Ms Denniston said. Ms Jackson stated that the incident did bring up an area of concern. “We did discover through this experience that we do not have communication with the private schools in town for this type of experience. We had it covered throughout the public schools but we need to coordinate with the town on a procedure to follow. We will initiate with the first selectman and the police chief to start up a phone chain in the future,” Ms Jackson said.

Reed School has set emergency procedures, as do all of the Newtown public schools. At Reed every teacher has a large, clear plastic bag that is hung next to the classroom door. The bag contains important information for all types of emergency situations, and contains a class list of students, teacher forms, and specific procedures to follow, which is especially helpful if a substitute is in the classroom that day.

Newtown Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock stated that the school practices ten fire drills per year along with other types of drills. She said, “Columbine underscored the importance and need for these kinds of drills. We talk about the drills and what is going to happen. It is not scary and the students know what to do. We have adults who are calm and know what to do and that sets the tone.”

In response to Friday’s lockdown, Ms Sherlock said, “Frankly our students were all wonderful, they got quiet and that helps to keep them safe. It’s very routine. It only lasted about ten minutes and was absolute clockwork.”

Newtown High School Principal Arlene Gottesman stated the lockdown is to make sure that all of the students and staff are kept safe. Although the high school was the closest in proximity to the site of the incident, Ms Gottesman said, “The lockdown went really well. Our staff handled it very well.” She added that parents need to be aware that security procedures are in place and trust that the school staff has the best interests of the students in mind at all times.