In her report to the School Committee Thursday night, Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh spent time describing the district’s training in school safety during intruder incidents.
The information came following an episode earlier this month when a call was received claiming there was a school shooter in the building.
She noted the training is “developmentally appropriate,” and elementary students do not practice ALICE (alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate) drills.
Cavanaugh said in addition to a school safety task force in the community, each building has its own crisis response team. The team is comprised of employees with a higher participation practicing and planning for emergencies, she said.
Younger students have practice evacuating the building during fire drills. During an intruder drill at the middle school, teachers made decisions “based on the intruder’s location,” and those students evacuating did not have to leave with their hands raised, which would be the case in a real intruder emergency.
The superintendent said, “ALICE is not a fire drill, not just lockdown and not something that proceeds in the order of the acronym.” Instead, actions are taken based on the intruder’s location.
Sometimes, she said, immediate evacuation is better than “containing” students in a classroom.
Moving targets are more difficult to hit, she added.
No matter what method is used, the superintendent said, plain language is crucial whether over the public address system, text, email or an app called CrisisGo.
“We would never ask anyone to take on an intruder,” Cavanaugh said, but in “last-ditch worst case scenarios,” the protocol is to distract by throwing things, screaming, overturning desks, etc.
“In the face of danger, our instinct is to remove ourselves from the threat,” she added.
A slide from Carol Cavanaugh’s presentation to the School Committee Thursday night highlights aspects of the school district’s safety training.
She noted the district has a school resource officer (SRO) who covers all five buildings. She said the Police Department budgets for two officers, but a staffing shortage means currently there is not a second one available.
“The one SRO is the only good guy with a gun?” Masters reaffirmed.
Carol Cavanaugh said the police response time was under four minutes during the swatter’s incident.
In response to member Susan Stephenson’s question about identifying the caller, the superintendent said the IP address was traced to the Midwest, and that is all that is known.
Stephenson called the presentation overall “very enlightening.”
Cavanaugh mentioned that she recognizes drills can cause “angst” for kids. Feedback in a school climate survey last year showed a couple of children in third grade being upset by numerous fire drills.
She explained there was a wiring issue at Elmwood School, and the students were made to go outside several times. A couple of them wrote about being “scared” during these false alarms.
The superintendent noted that everyone in the district received civilian response training last year, adding that it can be “disconcerting, even for adults.”
In her report prior to the presentation, student representative Savannah Rivera told the School Committee that the majority of high school students felt “safe and cared for” during the swatting incident.
“They felt staff and first responders handled it very professionally and efficiently,” Rivera said.
All adult staff should be given refresher training at the start of every school year.
The school administration is saying that has been implemented. The truth as has been demonstrated, is that staff has not been sufficiently trained. That is why when there was an active shooter called into the HS, all classrooms were told to do something different. There was zero organization. There were zero plan in place. Some kids were locked down, lights off. Other students were told to continue as if there wasn’t an active shooter, while some students were told to simply stay in place.
We must demand change and demand these changes are implemented.
Currently, they have not made our kids safe.
Is it true that the HMS wasn’t notified during the event happening and the Hopkins School where kids were out for recess at the time?
That is exactly correct.
None of Carol Cavanaughs statements are accurate.
It has been proven by the lack of response during the active shooter incident.
My husband met with the school safety committee and they do not have a plan in place for these situations. Clearly as has been demonstrated.
As far as there being a school resource officer, it was a school resource officer who [has been accused of raping a child] in our school system. The school leadership is untrustworthy. Clearly.
Do better, Hopkinton. Do better.
The Hopkinton Independent continues to not allow my posts to be submitted.
Something to hide, Hopkinton leadership?
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