A lockdown scare at Hope High School Tuesday is reminding other school districts that a crisis can happen at any moment anywhere.
Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT, safety has been on many people’s mind. The Lake Hamilton School District has a lockdown procedure plan, and is practicing lockdown drills so that if the situation arises, parents, teachers, and students will know what to do and hopefully won’t panic.
The Lake Hamilton School District Superintendent Steve Anderson says there is a crisis intervention plan if something were to happen. When a crisis occurs, people get nervous and the school district wants parents to know their students are safe at school.
J.J. Humphries is the principal of Lake Hamilton Junior High, and says he worked with several members of the administration and staff to start implementing lockdown drills. “We let the teachers know what we were going to do, and let the kids know. We announced it to the parents what we were going to do and told the children to talk to their parents about it.”
The school district wants to reassure parents not to panic. Anderson says hysteria is exactly what the administration wants to avoid. “They have 2 or 3 kids, but I have 4,400, and I’m going to take care of their babies. If there’s a threat, we will do everything in our power. “
The goal of having lockdown drills is to make sure everyone is more comfortable in crisis situation they hope will never happen. Humphries says the feedback he received from teachers and staff after the lockdown drill seemed to be positive. “One comment I got more than once is they want to have drills more often.”
Superintendent Anderson says the district learned a lot from the lockdown drill and they plan to keep practicing. Anderson says the district doesn’t release the exact crisis procedures because that would compromise the plan.
Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT, safety has been on many people’s mind. The Lake Hamilton School District has a lockdown procedure plan, and is practicing lockdown drills so that if the situation arises, parents, teachers, and students will know what to do and hopefully won’t panic.
The Lake Hamilton School District Superintendent Steve Anderson says there is a crisis intervention plan if something were to happen. When a crisis occurs, people get nervous and the school district wants parents to know their students are safe at school.
J.J. Humphries is the principal of Lake Hamilton Junior High, and says he worked with several members of the administration and staff to start implementing lockdown drills. “We let the teachers know what we were going to do, and let the kids know. We announced it to the parents what we were going to do and told the children to talk to their parents about it.”
The school district wants to reassure parents not to panic. Anderson says hysteria is exactly what the administration wants to avoid. “They have 2 or 3 kids, but I have 4,400, and I’m going to take care of their babies. If there’s a threat, we will do everything in our power. “
The goal of having lockdown drills is to make sure everyone is more comfortable in crisis situation they hope will never happen. Humphries says the feedback he received from teachers and staff after the lockdown drill seemed to be positive. “One comment I got more than once is they want to have drills more often.”
Superintendent Anderson says the district learned a lot from the lockdown drill and they plan to keep practicing. Anderson says the district doesn’t release the exact crisis procedures because that would compromise the plan.
