School safety was on the minds of school administrators and local law enforcement last week as officials did a walk-thru of area schools, familiarizing themselves with the layouts of the hallways, entrances and exits, and the various areas where students are located.
DeKalb County School System employees were joined by Smithville Police, the DeKalb Sheriff’s Department, and Emergency Management personnel for the walk-thru, discussing safety protocols in the event of an emergency. Officers did not perform any tactical drills in order to not distress or scare the school children at the schools at the time.
The State of Tennessee requires local districts to conduct “intruder drills” at least once a year, and they were conducted at DCHS and DeKalb Middle School on Tuesday, August 8, Smithville Elementary and Northside Elementary School on August 10, and DeKalb West School on August 15 with Alexandria Police participating.
DeKalb County Schools Safety Director Joey Reeder said that during the drills, the school is locked down as local law enforcement officers make sure all doors are locked.
“The new state law says we are to conduct intruder drills at every school but it’s been that way for a few years now,” Reeder explained. “In the past we have always done it prior to school starting without students being here, but with the Covenant shooting in Nashville and all that’s gone on we felt like, after consulting with our law enforcement people, that maybe it was time we did it with students in the building.”
“Later on, our plan is to maybe do an unannounced drill, where we lock everything down and have law enforcement come in, but in a case like that you have to be really careful especially when you’re dealing with smaller kids because you can cause them to become anxious and scared when they really don’t know what’s going on. In the world we are living in today, you never know what could happen so we are doing the best we can to be prepared,” said Reeder.
“Basically, an intruder drill is where our entire school building is locked down and wherever you are at you get in the closest room,” Reeder said. “If it happens between class changes or lunches, that’s things we’ll have to work on, but if it happens during a normal school day when kids are in class, we lock the doors, get the kids away from the windows and doors, and try to be as quiet as we can.”
“Our teachers have done a tremendous job this week,” Reeder continued. “We have had very few problems. It’s sad we are at this place in the world that we have to keep our doors locked at all times, but it’s a new state law that all exterior doors have to be locked and we are encouraging our teachers to keep the interior doors locked also. It causes some aggravation, but it’s another layer of safety. That’s what we are about, trying to keep as many kids, faculty and staff as safe as we can.”
Reeder said that the drills are as much for law enforcement as they are for the kids and faculty, allowing officers to familiarize themselves with the layout of the hallways, and the locations of different rooms in the schools.
“Our feeling on these drills is that not only does it help our schools but it’s a great deal of help to our law enforcement. Anytime we can get law enforcement in our buildings walking around, we believe that is a good thing and they are more than welcome to come. I don’t care what department they are with, Smithville, Alexandria, Sheriff’s Department … they are welcome in any of our buildings at any time,” said Reeder.
“We have a lot of officers who just stop and walk through the building, and we appreciate that. Anytime you go by and see a police car outside a school, we believe it serves as somewhat of a deterrent. Fortunately for years we have always had a tremendous relationship with all the law enforcement agencies, and you can tell that by the crowd of them we had here today,” Reeder continued.
“It was amazing to see how many of those officers had children of their own in school at the time. Most of them have a vested interest with a kid somewhere in school in DeKalb County and anything we want them to do they are always willing to do it. They take a lot of pride in their service and our schools, and we certainly appreciate them for that,” Reeder concluded.
During last Thursday’s regular meeting of the DeKalb Board of Education, Director Patrick Cripps thanked local law enforcement for their participation in the “Intruder Drills.”
“I do want to thank the sheriff and chief of police and their officers and deputies. We have been doing Intruder Drills this week and we have one more to do. I want to thank them for going through our schools during their drill to help keep our kids safe,” he said.
Director Cripps also warned that any threat made toward a school, even if it is a prank or joke, will not be tolerated and students will face full consequences. He urged parents to have conversations with their kids about making such threats, even if it is considered in jest.
“I want to reiterate to our parents to talk to their kids about things they say. They may be saying things jokingly, but it is imperative that they talk with them about what they say. There’s a new law out and it says anybody that threatens mass casualties is committing a zero-tolerance offense. That’s a year expulsion.”
“We are taking this seriously,” Cripps continued. “You can’t take any threat lightly, so we ask all parents to talk with their kids about that. I know how kids are. They will say things and think nothing of it, but their neighbor next to them may take it seriously. We have to take all threats seriously, so parents please help us with that situation by talking to your kids,” said Director Cripps.
