Westfield Police Dept vehicles are positioned in front of Southampton Rd. School on Wednesday during the school’s lock down drill (Photo by Lynn Boscher).
WESTFIELD—Students at Southampton Road School yesterday partook in a lockdown drill that was organized by Westfield Police and the Westfield School Departments.
The lockdown drill was one of several that are occurring across the city’s schools this week as part of the lockdown procedure known as ALICE. The efforts are being done in order to improve the students’ and faculty safety, preparedness and awareness in the event of an intruder at a school or other incidents.
“Our purpose with the safety drills is to promote student and staff and community safety,” Christopher Rogers, Administrator of Student Interventions for the Westfield School
Principal Kathy O’Donnell gives school keys to Officer Dan Gustafson during the Southampton Road School Emergency Drill on Wednesday (Photo by Lynn Boscher)
Department, said.
The drill at Southampton Road School, which has over 420 students, was done in conjunction with the Westfield Police Department who had officers on scene, and drills for other situations also include the Westfield Fire Department when appropriate, according to Rogers.
Rogers said that the drills utilize the fundamentals of ALICE, which stands for “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.”
Rogers said that these principles guide faculty and students in the event of an intruder or other incident that could be a threat to student or staff safety.
“We’ve empowered our staff, anyone can call for a lockdown,” he said. “When we adopted the principles of ALICE, anybody who spots a threat can call for a lockdown.”
According to Southampton Road School Principal Kathy O’Donnell, the school practices lockdowns “a couple times a year,” including a general lockdown and what she called “shelter in place.”
“With the shelter in place, teachers close their doors and continue to teach,” she said.
A checked classroom reveals a blockaded door during the Southampton Road School Emergency Drill on Wednesday (Photo by Lynn Boscher)
“We master a skill and practice something we hope we never use,” Rogers said.
At Southampton Road School yesterday, the drill itself was for an intruder.
“This you do one of three things: flee, hide or fight, or a combination thereof,” she said, saying that the option is up to the teacher.
Regarding the actual drill, it began with an announcement from O’Donnell that it would be occurring and that the intruder was located in a particular portion of the school, which was made over the public announce system at the school.
“We announce that this is a drill and give a location of the threat. Then teachers make a decision based on the location,” Rogers said. He also added that the decisions are made in real-time as information is given.
O’Donnell said that the drill includes a codeword for teachers to be aware that it is a drill.
“One time the codeword was not used so a teacher stayed hunkered down for an extra 30 minutes,” she said.
Once the announcement came, some classes that were not in the immediate area of where the intruder was said to have come in decided to flee, heading to either nearby North Middle School or Westfield Bank.
Other classes had stayed, choosing to lock doors and barricade them with items such as desks. Then, students may also huddle into corners or elsewhere.
Then, as doors were barricaded and classes fled, four Westfield police officers walked through the halls of the building, checking doors and classrooms. The officers would knock on the doors, announce themselves and unlock the doors, making sure that the locations are safe.
Students in Mrs. Loughrey’s class huddled in a corner during the Southampton Road School Emergency Drill on Wednesday (Photo by Lynn Boscher)
According to O’Donnell, the teachers would not unblock or unlock doors in a real incident unless there was identification shown, such as by sliding it under the door of a classroom.
Once the area was secured, the students and faculty were allowed back inside. Rogers said that in the case of a lockdown, police are the only ones that can release it.
According to Rogers, the ALICE method has been in place with the schools since the 2014-2015 school year and has included working more with the police department.
“This is a relationship since 2014-2015, we got our heads together working with the police department on ALICE,” Rogers said. “They’ve been fantastic partners in this.”
