L cked d wn: campus secu Practicing Safety
Prepping Younger Students
Students huddled together and crouched under lab tables while teachers shut off lights and locked doors. The first lockdown drill of the school year had just begun. When the announcement went off at 9:45 a.m., Headmaster Mark Desjardins, Head of Security Richard Still and on-campus Houston Police Department officers knew it was coming — the rest of school did not. Faculty and students are not notified of the date of the drill in order to make the simulation more realistic. When planning the lockdown, Still first emails the Deans asking them to send several reasonable dates for a drill. He then privately selects a date to keep it a surprise. According to Still, the lockdown drill was executed well, but some students failed to follow procedure. “Our drill went as well as it could have gone,” he said, “but because it was a drill, some people were just moseying along to get into the lockdown situation. And that’s not realistic because I know that same person would not be moseying along if it were a real lockdown situation.” When determining if situations require lockdown, Still is the primary decision-maker. “I judge it; I call it,” he said. “It’s not an administrative judgment whether or not to have a lockdown.” Desjardins emphasizes the importance of serious drilling to prepare for potential campus threats. “When I was a basketball coach, I would spend the last 15 minutes of every practice nailing down late-game situations. You practice over and over so that when you get in a real game situation, your execution is really a habit,” Desjardins said. “This is why it is important to practice. If there ever is a lockdown situation, we want to make sure we are drilled and ready.” Increased focus on security began in 2014 when Still was hired. Security cameras were installed in classrooms and automatic locks were placed on entrances into school buildings. “Some people didn’t like the cameras; they didn’t like the locks, but it’s all for total protection,” Still said. “We have other things that people don’t even know about to protect them once they come inside our school.” Still takes pride in the security system and considers the presence of HPD officers to be the most important measure that SJS has taken to ensure campus safety. “SJS is just way ahead of the game as far as having officers here and planning how to neutralize situations quickly,” Still said. Although Still is also in charge of the school’s Physical Plant and Facilities, he views student safety as his top priority. “It’s our responsibility to do what’s necessary [to] protect,” he said. “That’s my number one goal — to make sure that when you come here in the morning and you walk through our gates, you know that you are able to go home and leave here safe.” When the Columbine shooting occurred in 1999, Desjardins was a rookie Head of School at The Episcopal School of Texas in San Antonio. Since then, there have been over 50 American school shootings with 141 fatalities. “I never once thought when I began teaching in 1988 that I would ever have to practice and prepare for a school shooting. Never,” Desjardins said. “Unfortunately, we have to prepare for the world we live in rather than the world that we hope to live in. I never want to deliver a message to any parent saying that we could have saved your child’s life if we only had been better prepared.”
When the lockdown drill began on Nov. 28, fifth grade student Emmie Kuhl knew to sit quietly until the lights came back on. That night at the dinner table, Assistant Academic Dean Jennifer Kuhl discussed the lockdown with her daughters. “They were not scared because they knew it was a drill,” she said. “As a parent, I want to hear that it’s like any other natural, normal process they practice to get better at and feel comfortable with should they actually need to do it in a real situation.” When third grade student Elisabeth Gorman came home, she insisted that her family “play lockdown.” Student preparedness is a key component in running a smooth drill and ultimately keeping kids safe, Head of Lower School Chris Curran said. “We really don’t try to mask what’s happening because in the event of a real emergency, we want students to have practiced and developed a reflex for the right thing to do,” she said. Being honest with students is important for safety, Curran added. “Many years ago we had the question about whether or not we would use a different term than ‘lockdown’ for Lower School students because it sounded like such a scary word,” she said. “But when we talk to children about issues, even ones as serious as death or other crises, it is important to be honest, to answer questions at an age-appropriate level and not more, and above all to provide reassurance.” Lower School teachers are clear about the expectations of the drill. “We don’t want students to be confused and to have misconceptions, but to feel secure, and to know that their teachers will take good care of them,” Curran said. In the Middle School, many students were alarmed when the announcement came, but they were not completely caught off guard since many had already practiced similar emergency procedures. “The element of surprise is good because you wouldn’t be expecting anything in the case of a real lockdown,” sixth grade student Isabella Gidi said. Parents from all divisions received an email after the drill to notify them that it had taken place and to reiterate that the “safety and security of students remain [the school’s] highest priority.” Even though teachers and administrators emphasize the importance of preparing students for a crisis like a school shooting, they hope that they never encounter a situation in which students will have to remember the training they have learned. Curran said she hopes her experiences from the drills will arm her with the knowledge to make the right decisions in the event of an armed intruder entering the campus. “It is an enormous responsibility being the person in charge of the safety of 400 people,” she said. “At the end of the day, while there are protocols, we rely most heavily on staff having good judgment.”
School Safety Across
What aspect of school security makes you feel the safest?
GRAPHIC BY AMÉLIE PERRIER AND SIENA ZERR
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THE REVIEW
CENTERSPREAD
JANUARY 16, 2017