High school prepares for intruder drill
RED OAK — School security is taking a new turn in the coming months at Red Oak High School in the form of a live intruder drill.
The drill, which will likely occur in late January or early February, will feature a law enforcement officer as a “shooter” with an air horn signaling shots fired and cards given out to designate victims. A second officer will be present to record the time of the shots and length of intrusion.
The student body will be informed of the exact time and day of the drill to avoid a potentially traumatizing experience.
Students who are uncomfortable with the drill will have the option to not participate, according to guidance counselor John Brabec.
“We want to do this in a way that’s not traumatic,” he said. “Training should never be traumatic. It should be instructional.”
About a week prior to the drill, students will be informed about the school’s newly adopted security protocol, ALICE, which encourages escaping, rather than just hiding in the event of an intruder.
The school will also hold an informational parent meeting a week before the drill.
In the past, the students have participated in lockdown drills in which they were taught to turn off the lights, shut the door and hide should an intruder enter the building.
Brabec said ALICE takes it a bit further. Each room has a designated escape plan, either through a hallway exit or classroom window, and teachers are encouraged to plan ahead for routes.
Window escapes will not be practiced during the drill due to potential injury and/or property damage.
The drill will last a maximum of 10 minutes, according to Brabec, but ideally the “shooter” will be stopped and the students will be in a safe location after only a few minutes, limiting the number of “casualties.”
“The faster you react, the quicker things will get shut down,” he said. “So if it were real, the person is not going to have the success they’re looking for.”
Immediately following the drill, the students will participate in a debriefing session. Brabec said this will provide a better understanding of the drill and preparedness of the students in the event of a shooting.
He added the debriefing will also play a key role in future drills.
While they don’t plan on any drill being a complete surprise, Brabec said the drills will likely change in format in the future.
The intruder drill topic has been discussed at past school board meetings, which board members and the administration approached with apprehension.
“I think a concern is how are we going to be realistic while at the same time not be traumatic,” Superintendent Terry Schmidt said.
Brabec was asked to seek input from student leadership on the matter.
“I was kind of scared when we first talked about doing this because it was going to feel so real and that would horrify me, but I know it would help a lot of the students,” said Sabrina Guerra, high school senior and student council member. “If this is going to happen for real, it would be chaotic, but I think by practicing it and by making it so real, it’s going to help the students know what to do and where to go.”
Guerra also mentioned possibly staging student council members who are better prepared for the drill to be “victims” and encouraging other students to remain out of the “shooter’s” path.
Board members appeared more comfortable with the intruder drill process at last week’s meeting.
“I think a key difference for me is (the students) are developing an understanding of what is going to happen so it’s not traumatic,” school board member Paul Griffin said. “It’s not just popping something on them and saying, ‘hey, learn from it.’ No, we’re going to go through the training process, the communication process and the understanding process and then the debriefing to make sure we all understand it.”
A more detailed plan of the drill and an exact date will be published in a future edition of the Red Oak Express.