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Calexico High School physical education teacher Richard Guzman reviews attendance with students during an emergency evacuation drill Thursday. (CHELCEY ADAMI PHOTO / January 10, 2013) |
CALEXICO – Just as the Kern County community reacted in shock to the shooting in a rural California high school Thursday morning, Calexico Unified School District officials were taking steps to make sure it would be able to adequately respond in an emergency such as that one.
The district proactively held emergency lockdown and evacuation drills as school districts nationwide are also reassessing their own campus security in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
While the drills didn’t go as smoothly as originally planned, district officials said that’s exactly the reason to have them, so that schools can learn from the experience and prevent any problems during an actual emergency.
Representatives from entities including the Brawley Union High School District, the Imperial County Office of Education, the city of Calexico, the Calexico Fire Department and the Calexico Police Department were in attendance for the event.
Lockdown and evacuation drills were held at Calexico High School, Dool Elementary and De Anza Ninth Grade Academy.
Calexico Unified maintenance and operations supervisor Raul Martinez said that an October incident when a man under the influence of drugs came onto the outskirts of William Moreno Junior High School property, was arrested and caused a temporary lockdown, originally instigated the district’s decision to review and improve its emergency preparedness.
Representatives from Standard Electronics and Honeywell Fire Systems spoke to the various officials about their emergency mass notification systems, and the school district may consider at a future date using the technology shown Thursday to either enhance the existing notification system or tie it in with the city of Calexico’s system, Calexico Unified Superintendent Maria Ambriz said.
“School safety is on top of everyone’s priority,” she said. “We tried it today, and this opens the dialogue.”
Students and teachers were unable to hear the initial mass notification by the visiting companies that was supposed to trigger the lockdown Thursday, but now officials have a better idea of what the district would need if it used a new mass notification system.
“The biggest reason we’re exploring different options is at the suggestion of the Police Department of having a distinctive sound used specifically for lockdowns,” Martinez explained.
The district already uses bell and fire alarm systems at each site but is interested in further standardizing the alarm sound districtwide so as students move through different schools, the sound stays the same.
Teachers such as Calexico High economics teacher Brian Wong explained to classes that in the event of a lockdown they would need to sit on the floor away from windows and be quiet as teachers reviewed attendance and place corresponding notifications on their doors alerting to whether all their students are accounted for.
Once cleared for evacuation, students are to walk out to the sports fields and courts where attendance will be reviewed once again before students are cleared to return to classes.
“I’d like for there to be even more. I think we really need it with the atmosphere around the country now,” Wong said. “You never know what will happen.”
The drills also allowed the district to realize other possible issues, such as classroom doors that only lock from the outside and will need to be repaired to be locked from the inside.
“I think it’s very beneficial, because of what’s happened in the U.S.,” Calexico High Associated Student Body public relations officer Hector Teran said. “It’s good to be prepared. (The possibility of an emergency happening is) always in the back of my mind that it could happen.”
Staff Writer Chelcey Adami can be reached at 760-337-3452 or cadami@ivpressonline.com
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