“Talking could get you killed.”
This cautionary statement from Principal Madelyn Ball was referring to several lockdown drills in the cafeteria and a school wide lockdown drill on Jan. 10. According to Ball, the new emergency procedures were created by Harford County Public Schools in concordance with local law enforcement.
“You have to do these plans according to the people who are going to respond if you have an emergency because they need to be aware of exactly what your procedures are. We’re very fortunate that Harford County works with us very closely on this,” Ball said.
The new lockdown and emergency procedures include changes to the plan previously outlined in the brightly colored emergency plans flip chart in every classroom. These emergency plans will be replaced by two types of evacuations: a lockdown and a shelter-in-place. Other permanent changes include teachers locking their classroom doors when occupied and wearing their ID badges at all times.
“The teachers were very upset that we’re requiring them to lock their doors because it is an inconvenience every time a kid comes in, but if it can save those couple of seconds it takes to lock your door in case of an emergency, if it saves a life, I’m sorry but we’re all professionals and we’ll deal with it,” Ball said.
“I am all for it. Let’s make this place more secure. Anything that keeps you [students] safe. You are our number one priority,” Spanish teacher Susan Garcia said. “This is the first school I have been at where the doors were unlocked.”
Students reactions to the new procedures and the lockdown drill were mixed. Junior Kirsten Kyburz feels that the lockdown drill only helped students get out of class. “[The lockdown drill] wasted class time which could be a good or a bad thing for students,” Kyburz said.
However, junior Kevin Davies doesn’t think the administration is doing all they should. “[The new precautions are] a smart idea, but I think arming teachers is also a good idea,” Davies said.
English teacher Eric Sutton calls locking the doors a “slight annoyance,” but says that it’s “the price to pay for being safe.”
Spanish teacher Jane Michael agrees, saying “[Locking classroom doors] is a necessary evil. It’s not something we want to do, but the world has changed. It’s an inconvenience, but I see the sense in it.”
“There will be times this year when no one’s going to know [that we’re having a lockdown drill]. We’re just going to do it and everybody will be questioning ‘Is it a drill or is it real?’ and that’s the kind of thing we have to do,” Ball said. “The world is not like it used to be and I’m sorry that it has to be this way.”
Martha Schick is Multimedia Chief of The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.