Locking In On Lockdowns
Serena Mueller
Feature Editor
Sitting in the darkness, minus a bit of light streaming in through the door window, Waverly High students practiced their response to a possible intruder situation.
The first code red drill of the 2014-15 school year took place on Wednesday, Oct. 8, so students and faculty could test out the school’s planned response to an emergency situation.
Code red signifies an intruder or suspicious person inside the building, and tells all those in the school to get to the designated safe place in the classroom and remain dead silent. The safe place in a classroom is the area which would prove hardest or impossible to see students through any window from inside the building.
WHS administration is hoping for new security features in the future to make up for what is lacking in more than a few places.
“We’re in the process of evaluating what we need for appropriate security,” vice principal Brian Daniell said.
Computer labs are open, as are science classrooms, meaning there are no doors available to shut and lock, which would further protect students and their safety.
“The complicated thing for us is we don’t have a quick and easy way of locking down,” science teacher Pam Wendel said.
The drill gave students and teachers an idea of what a situation like that would entail.
“It makes you rethink some things, but overall, the more we practice, the more automatic it becomes for everyone,” Wendel said.
While chances of having to undergo a situation with the code red are slim, it’s necessary to address the chance.
“It’s highly unlikely that this would ever happen,” Daniell said. “However, it happens enough in our country that we do need to talk about it and acknowledge it, coming up with the best approach to a worst case scenario.”
Slowly but surely, WHS is making improvements to protect students and teachers from any possible danger.
The school’s safety team is evolving the current safety plans until the bond issue is decided in November. If the resolution passes, new safety features will get added. To see the proposed safety changes, look online at District145.org.
