various lockdown procedures

We shall examine several lockdown techniques used in schools in this situation. Most schools have processes they follow when lockdown happens because lockdowns are occasionally observed in the majority of campuses. A lockdown is primarily used to protect students and staff from whatever is causing it in the school. The fundamental query, however, is whether the protocols followed by schools during lockdown are the proper ones. There will also be a discussion of various measures that schools take to make sure that they are not caught off guard during a lockdown. Emergency response units are also important to have during lockdown procedures and this will be covered in the research paper.

Introduction

Locks down procedures in schools are sensible and proportionate responses to external or internal incidents that have the potential to cause harm to staff and students in a given school (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). The given lockdown procedures aim at minimizing any disruptions in the learning environment while also ensuring the safety of all the students and staff (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

Lockdown procedures are activated in response to any of the following number of situations such as an incident and civil disturbance in the local community that has a potential to cause harm to staff and students in the school, or an intruder on the school site that has the potential to cause harm or even lockdown procedures that are given in relation to given risks such as air pollution from gas cloud and smoke plume an occurrence of a major fire in the vicinity of the school (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

Variables showing how various schools respond to lockdown procedures

There are a number of ways through which an individual school responds to the laid out plans of lockdown procedure. These ways include the accessibility to school bell controls in order to raise an alarm in case of emergencies (Bergh, B., 2009). Other ways in which lockdown procedures can be handles is through internal communications such as messenger, internal e-mails, and two-way radios (Bergh, B., 2009). The school site plan such as the layout of the building and the proximity to one another, age of the students is also another variable that is considered and also the geographical location such as the presence of secure perimeter fences in the urban or rural areas (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013).

Some basic principles have been incorporated in the various schools to aid in lockdown procedures (NCSSM Emergency Procedures Lockdown Procedures ). These include alerting of staff members to the activation of the lockdown procedure by a recognized signal that is audible throughout the school, pupils who are outside the school are quickly brought inside the school premises, pupils inside classrooms are encouraged to remain still at the corners of the class (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013). Doors and windows are locked depending on the circumstances of the situation, the internal classroom doors need to be locked (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013).

Once the school is on lockdown the staff should then notify the office of any pupils that are not accounted for and an immediate search should be instigated for the missing pupils (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014). The pupils should be advised to keep calm, and as appropriate the school should establish communication with the Emergency Services as soon as possible (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014). In case it is necessary parents are to be notified as soon as possible via the school’s established communication system, note that this should be done if it is really necessary (Smith, C. B., 2016). During a lockdown it is advisable that the school should not release students to their parents (Smith, C. B., 2016). A fire alarm is sounded if it is necessary to evacuate the building. Staff should be alert and should wait for further instructions (Bergh, B., 2009).

Terminologies to use during a lockdown

It is very important for the terminologies been used for lockdown procedures to be very clear in order to distinguish them from other terminologies (NCSSM Emergency Procedures Lockdown Procedures ). The terminology giving notice of a lockdown should be in plain language, have less misunderstanding as to what is expected and also be clear (Bergh, B., 2009). There should be no use of secret passwords and the Lockdown terminology must be used only when there is a major threat or when there is school violence taking place near the school premises or somewhere that is related to the school (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013). Misusing the lockdown terminology will lead to desensitization of the staff and students and the lockdown terminology will not be taken seriously (Dickson, M. J., & Vargo, K. K., 2017).

Other terminologies that should be properly used include the “Hold and secure” terms; these should be used when the school sees it safe to secure them from an ongoing situation outside the school rather than in the school (Smith, C. B., 2016). This can include situations requiring only the closure of exterior doors within the school. The school continues to function normally (Smith, C. B., 2016). Such situations that may need the “Hold and secure” terms include a bank robbery that occurs near a school but far from the school property (Smith, C. B., 2016).

This goes on until normalcy is realized. Another terminology that can be used and should be well explained is the Shelter in Place (Smith, C. B., 2016). This terminology is for a weather related situation or for an environment (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014). This requires that all participants in school are protected from these external situations. Such include blackouts, explosions, extreme weather conditions and chemical spills (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

How should schools prepare for lockdown procedures?

Lockdown procedures should be familiar to every member of the school, starting from the senior management team, the school administrators, teaching and non-teaching staff (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014). A lockdown drill is necessary every once a year and depending on the age of the students, staff should notify them of the lockdown drill procedures (Ancich, A. , 2006). Carrying out lockdown drill regularly will increase their familiarity with the practice (Dickson, M. J., & Vargo, K. K., 2017). The parents to the students should also be notified in case the school intends to carry out a lockdown drill. The parents can be notified through the school website through a written memo (Dickson, M. J., & Vargo, K. K., 2017).

During a lockdown drill, the best thing to do is to conduct several table top exercises with the senior management team in order to test the various procedures against various scenarios (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013). It is also important that everybody rehearses the lockdown arrangements with all staff and pupils and also lockdown drill information should be displayed in every classroom alongside information regarding fire drills (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013).

Changes in lockdown procedures in schools

It has been noted in most schools that during lockdown procedures, school staff is usually too fast in informing liaison officers about the lockdown happening at their school (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). This is done without the staff first investigating the severity of the situation. Calling liaison officers immediately without first establishing the cause will trigger more alarm than necessary and the liaison officers may not take you seriously once the school gets caught up in a serious situation that needs their attention (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014).

There are limited specific plans in schools that have been set up to alert the staff and entire school about potential dangers (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). The schools are almost never aware that their school is at risk of attack or there is risk of potential fire until they have been caught up in the situation which happens almost entirely without their notice (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014). It is a common thing during a lockdown procedure in school to have staff and students learn about the cause of the lockdown but no specific plan is normally in place (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

The school should be well prepared for lockdown situations, when individuals in schools are well aware of the facts of the potential dangers through adequate communication, panic and anxiety is reduced in case something happens (Dickson, M. J., & Vargo, K. K., 2017). Information regarding potential danger that would lead to a lockdown should not be withheld because of the fear that people will panic (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

In most cases, parents and schools are uninformed about what is happening and what is causing the lockdown. This causes panic and fear to be uncontrolled when compared to a situation where the school had an idea on what was happening during the lockdown (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). Parents will call relentlessly during the lockdown and this will add panic to the staff making them unable to handle the situation posing risk to their children (Ancich, A. , 2006). Communication through e-mail is most preferred than phone calls. The school should be able to inform parents in a calm way that their children are safe and that the school fully understands their concern about their children’s welfare and everything is been done to ensure their children are safe (Bergh, B., 2009).

A reassuring message should be sent out to parents preferably by e-mail about the full details of what is happening in the school (Bergh, B., 2009). Communicating to parents will ensure that parents do not regularly keep contacting the school since constant calling could tie up the school’s telephone lines that are particularly important in that moment to contact emergency providers (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013). Good communication with parents will also ensure that the parents do not come to the school as this will cause interference with the emergency providers as they will not have adequate access to the school (Bergh, B., 2009). Parents flocking in school will also put them and others in harm’s way.

Parents should wait for the school to contact them when it is safe for them to pick up their children and where the children should be picked from (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). For a long time, this has not been practiced and parents have been seen flooding the school compound without clear information causing the students and staffs more panic (Smith, C. B., 2016).

Lockdowns should also be labeled as they are. For example, a Level 1 lockdown needs to ensure that the classrooms and buildings are safe from outside intrusion but in this situation teachers should continue teaching (Bergh, B., 2009). A Level 2 lockdown is a full lockdown, where the doors are locked but the teachers and students remain safe and make effort to remain invisible during this scenario (Bergh, B., 2009). It is important that school officials make the required provisions for the extended lockdowns in order to meet the needs for children with special health concerns. Children with special-needs also need to be taken care of (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013).

Sometimes it is not possible to have laid out plans for everything especially threats happening to the school, and therefore creativity is vital in order for the people to deal with every situation as it occurs, because there is always that one thing that was not planned for (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). Emergency lines should always be kept open but as stated earlier it is important that the staff gets full information on hat is causing the lockdown before contacting emergency personnel (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). Emergency services are most useful for advice during such times (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

Depending on the severity and situation causing the lockdown the school site may or may not be cordoned by Emergency Services (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). The decision of the principal in the school is always respected by the emergency personnel in regards to timing of communication to parents (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). Severe or prolonged lockdown will require that the emergency services offer humanitarian assistance through the establishment of a Reception Centre for a family or friend, but this takes place outside the cordoned area (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

Floor plans that are accurate need to be implemented so that adequate lockdown procedures are ensured (Bergh, B., 2009). One thing about accurate floor plans is that they are important from a planning and response view (Bergh, B., 2009). Color coding techniques are used as effective practices of floor planning; they include blue, green and red (Bergh, B., 2009). The red color is used to indicate areas in the school that are prove difficult to lockdown during emergencies (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013). The green color is used to show various areas in the school where the students and staff are required to be for adequate and safe lockdown (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013). Areas that are blue in color are used to identify the Command Post location that are used by the police and are dependent on the nature of the incidence (Panicucci, G., & Miller, A., 2013).

The command post location is the main area in the school; this is also inclusive of another extra area in the school compound that is able to work as an alternative command post location (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014). The school should be able to be part of the school plan when the on-site command post location is out of reach (Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A., 2014). Off-site evacuation locations should be identified and this should go hand in hand with the copies designed for the available floor plans (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). The entire school should have floor plans; they should be located in every classroom, at every entry point in the school and the floor plans should be relevant to a specific level in the school (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

Conclusion

The police department should also have access to various hardcopies of the floor plans and entire information regarding the school; or should also be provided in electronic copies (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). The police should have the current and accurate information regarding the school layout and the information should be available both in electronic and hardcopy in case there is any event that the computer breaks down (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005). The technological departments in schools are working towards installing automated calling system that is supposed to alert parents and childcare providers when an unexpected emergency occurs (Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools, 2005).

It is important that time and attention is given mostly to open areas during the planning phase (Smith, C. B., 2016). Open areas are highly vulnerable and schools should come up with a way of evacuating students to the exterior of the school (Smith, C. B., 2016). This is mostly possible if the high vulnerable areas are next to the exterior walls and doors leading to the outside (Smith, C. B., 2016). As mentioned earlier, students and staff should be aware of lockdown procedures in schools (Smith, C. B., 2016).



Works Cited

Emergency planning and procedures guide for schools. (2005). Minnesota: St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Dept. of Public Safety, Division of Emergency Management.

Ancich, A. . (2006). Safety resources for the family and consumer sciences teacher. Ellensburg, WA: Family and Consumer Sciences Education Association. .

Bergh, B. (2009). A qualitative study of school lockdown procedures and teachers ability to conduct and implement them at the classroom level. Ann Arbor, MI: Proquest, Umi Dissertation Publishing.

Dickson, M. J., & Vargo, K. K. (2017). Training kindergarten students lockdown drill procedures using behavioral skills training. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,, 50(2), 407-412.

Fennelly, L. J., Fennelly, L. J., & Perry, M. A. (2014). The handbook for school safety and security: best practices and procedures. Oxford, UK: Butterworth Heinemann. .

Panicucci, G., & Miller, A. (2013). Lucy practices a lockdown: preparing young students for school lockdowns. United States: Gretchen Panicucci. .

Smith, C. B. (2016). Lockdown, shelter-in-place, what should I do? Galloway, NJ: Stockton University.

NCSSM Emergency Procedures Lockdown Procedures. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.bing.com/cr?IG=BFDF8B91565C499BB5C24FE5657E72DF&CID=0FD2FB0045F06FB3315AF04D44F66EEA&rd=1&h=BUV-Xti5XqNnB6bE8rk9gg-l4-q_J6hAljxt8QXDndY&v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ncssm.edu%2fuploads%2ffiles%2f586839378819569510-lockdown-procedures.pdf&p=DevEx,5402.