As many of you are aware, we had two lockdown situations occur at our New Richland School last week. The lockdowns were in response to two very different situations.
The first, on Tuesday 3 October, was implemented when the school received a phone call from the New Richland Police Department. A potentially dangerous individual had fled police and was last seen entering a cornfield south of New Richland. We felt the most prudent response was to bring the secondary building into a hard lockdown, a period of extremely limited motion inside the building which places all students inside classrooms with locked doors. Limiting motion this way is part of a plan to minimize student exposure to danger. The basic premise is that, if any intruders were to get inside the building, they would have trouble locating any students or other occupants they might be targeting. During this time, teachers remain with students in the classrooms while administration coordinates with local law enforcement. In addition to the hard lockdown at the New Richland site, a soft lockdown was implemented at the Ellendale building. As the name implies, a soft lockdown is less stringent; the building’s outside doors are locked and students are kept in their classrooms; teachers continue presenting material while administrators patrol the hallways.
The second lockdown was initiated on Wednesday after a threatening message was found; the threat involved only the New Richland building, and named no specific target, but rather the school population in general. We members of the administration responded immediately upon learning of the threat, following lockdown procedures for the second time in two days. I was very pleased to see the smooth, immediate cooperation we received from every group, from the staff in the kitchen — who were just in the process of serving lunch — to the students, teachers, and support workers. It was easy to tell that the safety of our students was everyone's first priority, and that perspective guided our response.
Law enforcement officers were on site within minutes of the discovery of the threat, and assisted first with the necessary safety protocols, and then with the investigation into who had made the threat. After a thorough search of the building, we confirmed that there was no abiding threat to our students' safety, and progressed to a soft lockdown.
I understand any concerns that the public and the parents of our students may feel about these two events. I want you to feel confident that every possible step was taken to assure the safety of everyone in the building, and that swift action is being taken to identify the culprit and take disciplinary measures.
Days like these are the reason our school district has a crisis plan which identifies specific procedures for handling each possible type of emergency situation. As with any event, we learned of adjustments we want to make in implementing our plans, and have already reviewed these with staff.
It is self-evident that the administration will only initiate a lockdown when there is a genuine need for it; all occupants of the building are expected to respond appropriately. Let there be no doubt, the words, "The safety and well-being of our students is our district's first priority," are not a publicity slogan, they are the foundation of everything we do at NRHEG.
