SCHOOL SAFETY PLANS GET A SERIOUS TEST
Susan McChesney, West Lake Jr. High School, West Valley City, Utah

October 27, 2003 started out like any other day at West Lake Junior High School in West Valley City, Utah.  No one suspected that we would soon have a possibly life and death test of our schools emergency plans.

Three years earlier, West Lake was granted money for a new three year program which would place a middle school coordinator in three of the junior high schools in our district.  West Lake Jr. was one of those schools.  This program, know as Rock Solid, is a drug, alcohol and violence prevention program with a strong emphasis on school safety. As part of the school safety aspect of the grant, several of our team members were able to attend a Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools training at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute in Maryland.  This was quite an eye opener for us.  We were used to doing fire drills and maybe one earthquake drill a year but that was about it.  Most of the hazards mentioned had never crossed our minds.  When we returned home, we formed a safety committee in our school and started the lengthy process of revamping our plans. 

While our safety plans are never likely to be complete, we have come a long way from where we started.  Our district requires only four drills a year.  West Lake is now doing one a month.  We have trained our staff and our students how to respond in several different situations including fires, earthquakes, and lockdowns.  We’ve offered first aid and CPR training.  We have learned a great deal about accountability; both how important it is and how difficult.  And every drill we do teaches us something else that we hadn’t thought about yet or thought through completely enough.  Our plans are adjusted often to make them better and more multi-hazards in scope. 

These plans were put to the test by the very serious situation of a student bringing a loaded gun to school.  This student showed the weapon to others and those kids, having developed a good relationship with one of our teachers, told what they had seen.  Since our safety plans have been implemented, our teachers and administrators know to take such reports seriously every time.  It was nearly lunch time when the school officer and administrators decided to lock down the building because they had not yet identified the student with the weapon.  This kept him contained in one classroom until he could be identified and apprehended. 

The weapon did not have a clip in it when it was confiscated but it did have a round in the chamber.  It was a semi-automatic pistol that had been stolen.  Kids do have access to guns and other weapons whether we intend them to or not.  Because we had prepared for this type of a situation, everyone remained calm and no one was hurt.  It could have ended much differently. 

Even with our happy outcome, we still learned something new.  One of our PE classes was outside when the lockdown started and could not get back into the building.  We have since made arrangements with a nearby business to shelter students in this type of situation until the lockdown is over.  Our safety plans are a work in progress and should be so that they stay fresh in everyone’s mind and everyone is involved in making them better.  We have learned to be flexible because no two situations are exactly the same.  We’ve also learned that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. 

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