School Safety – A New Course for Adults: Lockdown 101

This is a long blog, so please bear with me. I’ve tried to make it less wordy, but I don’t think I can convey all that I have to say on this topic by doing so. The bottom line is, I want my child safe. I think that’s what everyone wants–when their children are at school, they want them safe. It’s just a matter of how that is achieved, and what information is shared. That’s where the lines are blurred and there are shades of gray.

Last week, my daughter lived through her first “modified lockdown” at school since she started her Hillsborough public school education. This was my first experience with this kind of thing as a parent, too. I’m sure many other Hillsborough parents had shared a similar experience. Maybe it wasn’t the first time where their children were in school when a lockdown or modified lockdown had happened. Maybe it was.  Maybe you have children in another school district where these types of security measures have been taken in the past for one reason or another. Or, maybe you are someone reading this right now who is not a parent, but knows one of the parents whose children were in the Hillsborough school system, or another school district where events like these have taken place.

When I was young, and yes, I’m dating myself by making this statement–we didn’t have lockdowns or modified lockdowns in schools. We didn’t have drills that prepared us as students and teachers for emergency situations other than fires. What a different world we live in today.

I agree, it’s better to be prepared in the event of a natural disaster, human threat, or some kind of hostile occurrence to take extra safety measures. But, when you go through something like this the first time as a parent, where your children are on the inside of that school building and you are on the outside–it can be scary.

I do have to say that the Hillsborough school district was very competent and did inform parents right away of with recorded phone messages, text alerts, Tweets, and emails when the decision was made to place schools under extra protection. It is better to have some information than none.

But it’s the part where parents don’t know “why” this is happening that is scary. It could be for any reason. It could be because someone made a threat against the school. There could be a bad guy miles away, on foot, in the air, or perhaps a slew of them right outside the school doors. You just don’t know. 

Yes, we were reassured that the students were safe. But–safe from what?

That’s when speculation began. Of course when people see a police presence outside of a school, that conveys that students are being protected. But that also implies that there’s something to be protected from.

And what about in cases where there was not a police presence outside of some schools–at least not as far as one could tell by casual observation? Were those students protected? As parents, you certainly hope so; because as parents, you don’t know and don’t have access to the methods that school staff uses to employ that protection.

Perhaps it was coincidental that on the same day that the modified lockdown occurred in my town that other schools in Hackettstown and that surrounding area had also had lockdowns and modified lockdowns, due to an alleged threatening phone call received from a man. Even now, authorities are not quite sure if there was any merit to the threat, but the Warren County Prosecutor is determined to find out who did make that call.

Coincidence–or not–that these events were happening in a town 30 miles from Hillsborough–it made people wonder if this was related to the modified lockdown decision made in Hillsborough, which, due to an ongoing investigation, the reasons for it have not been validated either way.

And the reasons why Hillsborough schools had a modified lockdown still can’t be explained right now, and speculation as to the reasons why, can’t be confirmed or denied. Hillsborough officials cannot comment on the situation. They could not comment at the time that the modified lockdown was in place, and they still can’t comment now for a few reasons. And, it makes sense. 

First, during any type of lockdown in Hillsborough, it’s the town prosecutor’s decision as to what information can be released to the media. It’s not the schools’ decision nor the Board of Education's decision when it comes to information that can be shared publicly during a school lockdown situation. The investigation is still ongoing (investigation of what or whom I’m just not sure); so as long as that is happening, silence on the matter is all you will hear.

The Board of Education makes a joint and informed decision with the local police department about what to do during a lockdown, and again, this decision, and the details of what will be done procedurally, are not released to the media because basically, you don’t want to tip off the bad guys so they can circumvent the safety measures that are being taken.

As a logical person, I understand this. As a parent, I am grateful for this, because I want my child to be protected. However, as a parent–this does not stop me from being concerned and worried about what is going on at the time of a lockdown and how whatever is going on, can possibly impact my child.

As a newbie to having my child in the school system, I started wondering, what exactly does a lockdown or modified lockdown mean? I’ve heard hearsay. I Googled  the words. Some school districts provide definitions for these terms. So, I went to the Board of Education website and tried to find the information there. I could not.  Hmmm. Did I miss something that was sent home with the students about what goes on in these situations? I pulled out the student handbook. No, nothing was in there either. So I asked persons who do know what these terms mean with certainty, but kindly requested to not be quoted for my blog. I respect that.

It was explained to me that during a lockdown, all education stops. The schools are securing the facility from danger. During a modified lockdown there is no immediate threat, but again, measures are taken to secure the schools and make sure that the students are safe. That’s about as specific as officials can get on this topic. Why?Because if the schools and police department outlined the specific steps that they take during lockdowns, that’s giving the person(s) making the threats advance notice and letting them know upfront what will be done, so they can try to circumvent these measures.

Last week, I heard different stories about the actions taken at different schools in the district during the modified lockdown. Doors were locked, people were not allowed to exit and enter the buildings, and students did not go outside for gym or recess, for example. Depending on the school, perhaps different measures were taken. I did not have time to interview every school official, teacher, or student about what went down at every school in town. But, from what I gathered, there were differences in the security measures taken from school to school.

So there is no across-the-board rule book or plan that’s followed during a lockdown.  Ensuring safety is something that the Board of Education decides behind closed doors, in private, on a case by case basis with police department input. There is a progressive way that it’s handled and the decision is based on what the school officials and police department anticipate the threat level would be.

I have noticed that in the past, the Hillsborough school system had published partial summaries of why the school has gone into some lockdowns which are only partially visible through their website. If I pasted the link into this blog, you would be redirected to the website’s home page. Just like when I click on any of the links in the search results list–I’m brought right back to the websites’ main page. But if you go to the website and search on the term "lockdown," you’ll see a list of partial entries come up elaborating on past lockdown occurrences, and related information.  I printed what came up to a pdf file attached to this article when I did the search.

That’s about all of the publicly available information that you’ll find on what lockdown and modified lockdown mean in this town. Some schools, in different parts of the world like St. Joseph’s Academy in Newfoundland, do publish definitions of what lockdown means and some of the measures taken. True, it’s not the United States, and based on past experience in our country, somehow, we seem to be threatened more than others. So, we make our own rules that suit our needs.

On one hand, though, I think publication of general definitions of what lockdown and modified lockdown mean does help explain to parents what goes on in these types of situations and keeps parents assured and calm; and as far as informing the bad guy–well, the bad guy probably already knows more about school procedures that will be taken than I do if he did his homework. I’m not saying schools should list the specifics about safety measures to be taken–like all students proceed to room 205, and teachers take turns standing guard outside the classroom door, switching on an hourly basis.  But, as a parent, I’d feel better knowing what “safe” means when I’m not with my child. 

The best definitions I could find explaining what lockdown and modified lockdown meant were from Wikipedia. People can argue that Wikipedia can be updated at any time and the information there is not validated. But, I find it to be a pretty good source of information based on peoples’ collaborative experiences. And like the saying goes, “In every rumor there is a little bit of truth.”

“in the United States, schools practice lockdowns in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre where potential assailants who were possessing firearms, (with a hostile intent), enter the school, or from an internal event;….. A partial lockdown means that the doors leading outside of the building are locked and people may not exit or enter the building. A full lockdown means that people must stay where they are and may not exit or enter a classroom, apartment unit, store unit, an office space, condo unit or to enter or exit the building. If people are in a hallway they must go into the nearest classroom, apartment unit, condo unit, office space or store unit.” – Wikipedia.

Yes, a child can tell their parents when they come home from school where they went and what they had to do during the lockdown and you can find out that way. But, that’s second hand information, coming from, in some cases, a young person who is trying their best to communicate but is not mature enough to explain everything perfectly to their parents.

I’ve heard many rumors around town about why the Hillsborough schools decided to issue a modified lockdown on March 26, ranging from how the decision was unrelated to the Hackettstown events, to how the alleged threat was made against schools that started with an “H.” Some people have said that Hillsborough was just being extra cautious and the decision was related to the Hackettstown threat. I was not able to validate any of these rumors by talking to officials. 

Also, if I think about it, as far as the “schools that start with an H” rumor-there are many more towns in New Jersey that begin with an “H” than Hackettstown and Hillsborough–Hopatcong, Hainesport, Hackensack ... etc. So the schools that start with an “H,” tale doesn’t really make sense to me because all towns beginning with an “H” did not have lockdowns at schools. 

And, logically, even if there was a gunman on the loose, if he was en route from Hackettstown to let’s say Hillsborough, you would have seen other nearby towns go into lockdowns as well, spanning across an entire region–not just one lockdown way up north, and then randomly another 30 miles south of that point. Nearby towns such as Bridgewater and Montgomery did not have school lockdowns. So, I’m still guessing.

Maybe the town prosecutor will be able to explain in the future why the modified lockdown happened, after the investigation concludes. Or, maybe the information may never be divulged. But to me, it’s always worth asking the question. You never know, it can lead to an answer; and if it doesn’t, you’re right back where you started which is just not knowing.

All I know is that when the modified lockdown happened, school doors were locked and the children were not allowed outside of the building. At the time it was unclear to me if that meant that parents could not pick up their children if they needed to, or enter the building upon approval. To me, that is still unclear as I was unable to obtain further clarification from school officials or any documentation from the Hillsborough schools website. 

I dove even further into my research by trying to find out if there were any routine police procedures taken during school lockdowns, and eventually I found one document emanating from the state level, commenting only on the frequency of school security drill requirements, which stems from the Office of Homeland Security. What this tells me is there is a trickledown effect coming from the Federal government on the safety procedures that must be implemented by the schools on the state and local levels. How far does the Federal government’s influence over lockdown procedures go? I’m not sure. I could spend weeks investigating.

If the children had been detained at school beyond normal school hours, whether it was for a modified lockdown or lockdown, not knowing exactly what or whom my child was being protected from would bother me a lot more. It actually bothers me that some teachers in the district, who again, I will respect and not list them by name here, said that they were told a modified lockdown was happening, but even they were not aware of what they were supposed to be protecting the children from.  Had it been a real and immediate threat, I have to wonder, would the teachers be informed of who or what they were up against at that point? For all they know there could be a sniper outside of their classroom window or God forbid another 9/11 situation. Would they change how they responded accordingly? I would think so. As humans, I think we all would. If it’s a lockdown because of an external threat versus an internal one, that can reshape every single thing you do!

I have also learned that lockdowns can happen in situations when natural disasters strike. It’s not just for bomb scares, telephone threats, and human antagonistic behavior. Did you know in Arizona they even have modified lockdowns if coyotes are spotted on the playgrounds?

As a teacher, I would respond very differently to wild coyotes on the playground than I would to a sniper. I do feel that teachers should be informed of the kind of safety concern that they are up against. In the coyote situation, coyotes cannot be arrested so that doesn’t involve the prosecutor’s office and parents and teachers could have been informed of the details that that was the reason behind the modified lockdown last week in Glendale, Arizona. But you know what? They weren’t told about the reason for the lockdown until after it happened. I don’t get it. No prosecutor office involvement, no police involvement, and the teachers don’t know if a coyote’s coming after them or Osama Bin Laden! Personally, I’d be more concerned about a human threat to my child in school than an animal one. And if I’m not allowed to protect my child, I’d sure want to know that the school staff knew whether to call animal control or watch for flying bullets. Big difference.

A very encouraging and calming point I found out was that the Hillsborough school district is very involved with the All Hazards Response program on the state level, when it comes to preparedness for safety and natural disasters for kids. That is positive. Additionally, the Hillsborough Township Public Schools issues Instant Alerts and now Tweets to parents events of immediate importance, besides emailing and phone calls. This increased communication is good, and they hope to expand the usage of Twitter more to inform parents of such things. The parents in Hackettstown were not as fortunate to receive quick communication about the lockdown that happened in their school system, and their district may want to consider using Hillsborough’s embracement of technological communication as a model.

While I commend the township on wanting to protect my child in school, I do still think that there’s room for improvement, not just here, but many places. I believe all teachers should always be given details as to why a school goes into any type of lockdown, even if it’s not specifically that “John Doe called in a bomb threat”.  I think they should know if the danger is coming from an animal, vegetable, or mineral – or human as the case is more likely to be, as well as if it’s an internal threat or an external one.  Information sharing is key when it comes to implementing plans of protection.  Maybe that is something that was intended to be done in the district; however, there were teachers who were left in the dark.

I also feel that when an alert is first issued, additional information should be communicated to parents between that time, and the time that the lockdown ends, even if it is only a reassurance that students are still safe. It makes parents feel better when they’re not right there. 

I think that on school district websites and in student handbooks, there should be broad but as descriptive-as-possible definitions of what the terms modified lockdown and lockdown mean.  Our children learn those definitions by practicing periodic security drills in the schools, but as a parent, it would be comforting to have more information. I don’t think it’s right that our children know more about what a lockdown drill is than the parents.  We should be on equal ground and not have to hear it second hand. I’m not asking for specific procedural plans; just some additional information for those of us who are going through this for the first time.