A school safety drill has sparked controversy — and I suppose I can see why:
The mock scenario involved an “armed intruder,” played by a deputy, who entered the school, fired a cap gun, and asked for a specific student. Other officers arrived on the scene and “arrested” the intruder.
High school staff were notified of the security drill the day before and were instructed to follow the school’s response plan, said District 203 Superintendent Randy Otto. He said teachers were told to lock their classroom doors and remain inside with students, or to evacuate students.
“Most remained inside their classes. There were a few teachers that did escort their students out to a safe place, deemed prior to the drill, somewhere outside the school,” Otto said.
Parents were notified by phone via a school reach notification system between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. the day of the drill.
“I sent a message on our school reach system that the drill was going on, that it was just a drill, and not to do any communication (with students) via phone or text,” Otto said.
Students were not informed of the drill beforehand. Otto said staff were told not to notify students that it was a drill unless multiple students became seriously overwrought.
“We chose not to tell them because we wanted to see how the teachers could put them through the drill,” Otto said.
Otto did confirm that the student who the “intruder” was searching for, fled school grounds and had to be located and brought back to school.
(Hat tip to Matt Welch at Reason, whose two-year-old went through a similar drill at preschool.)