Post by title1parent on Apr 19, 2009 5:52:10 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1533299,Naperville-after-Columbine_na041909.article
Columbine's legacy
After Columbine, all threats are taken seriously
April 19, 2009
By DAN CAMPANA AND TIM WALDORF Staff Writers
The room was packed with Waubonsie Valley High School parents who were understandably scared and angry. They had been notified by e-mail or text message or phone tree their child's school was on lockdown because a gun may have been spotted.
Their worst fears — a litany of school shootings through the years — undoubtedly ran through their mind. One mother even tried to run into the school to grab her kids. She was stopped by police at the door.
Text messages coming from students broadcast wild rumors: bodies had been found, kids were hurt.
In front of the parents was Aurora police Lt. Paul Nelson, calmly swatting down rumor after rumor.
No one was injured. No shots had been fired. There is no gunman wandering the school.
Nelson was open, honest and not alarmist.
The panic subsided a bit. The room started to breathe. A few parents even smiled.
Inside the school, as officers checked the school room by room, the students waited for hours.
But even separated from their parents they were aware of their concerns. And so on three white pieces of paper they scribbled out for all to see: "WE R OK."
It has been 10 years
When you send your kids to school, you expect them to be safe. Teachers and administrators agree, saying school should be the safest place your child is all day.
In an attempt to better understand how educators work to keep kids safe in the post-Columbine era, The Naperville Sun sat down with local school district officials to discuss what has changed in the past decade. After discussing this issue with local school district officials, a few general themes emerged.
Most notably, plans — based on larger safety policies — now lay out particulars for what administrators, teachers and students do when an emergency strikes.
But safety plans and policies do more than just prepare for Columbine-like scenarios. While establishing a response to violent incidents, the districts also use plans to help school employees spot a troubled student's warning signs and deal with classroom medical emergencies.
Students are a part of the safety evolution, too.
Much of this is guided by state law. In 2005, the state Legislature passed the School Safety Drill Act, which established minimum standards for schools to follow when conducting safety drills and reviewing crisis plans. It also encouraged districts to work with local police and fire departments toward student safety goals. It was amended in December 2008 to mandate law enforcement drills based on each school's plan. Previously, such drills were only strongly encouraged.
In a basic sense, districts use a variety of ways to achieve safety goals. Police practice "active shooter" and "rapid response" drills, teachers are taught to instinctively act to ensure students' safety, and students are reminded not to let strangers into school buildings, to stand up to bullies and to report unusual behavior by classmates.
But perhaps the biggest change that has occurred since the Columbine High School massacre, which occurred April 20, 1999, is one in attitude. Any threat — big or small — is taken seriously, and every effort is made to make students feel safe to be themselves at school.
What was learned from Waubonsie?
Indian Prairie School District 204 learned valuable lessons from that Dec. 10 lockdown at Waubonsie.
"I learned that they were very prepared for that," said Kathy Birkett, District 204's deputy superintendent. "I learned that they were able to lock that building down instantaneously.
"And we learned more about what the Aurora police expect, and they learned more about what we expect," she added. "I think if God forbid we had another one we'd be that much better for it."
But what would they do different?
"We need to better plan for that outside push that has nothing to do with the safety of those kids inside — just a need for information," Birkett said.
But that's a tall order, said Janet Buglio, District 204's communication director.
"Part of the challenge is that you're limited by the direction you're getting from the police as to what the message can be," she said. "And you're never able to give the parents the full story as quickly as you want. So you let them know that their kids are safe, the building is on lockdown, the police are managing it."
District 204 did that through four messages sent to parents by Waubonsie Principal Kristine Marchiando.
Of course, students provided their parents with updates themselves.
Birkett said nobody was surprised that students used their cell phones to communicate with their parents — to tell them what was going on or that they were safe or, should anything tragic have occurred, that they loved them.
But, she said, officials were a bit surprised at how quickly the kids turned to their phones, and, in turn, how quickly parents responded.
Birkett said both District 204 and the Aurora Police Department learned "we need to have a much quicker plan to respond to that."
However, one student's use of a cell phone worked in the district's favor.
"We actually solved it because of a kid who got on his cell phone," Birkett said. "A student texted that they thought that they had seen X, Y and Z in a certain place, and that's how we found the (threat)."
Plan, training
The lockdown plan officials implemented at Waubonsie is the same plan most Illinois school districts have adopted in some form.
"We've adopted the state crisis plan," Birkett said. "They have a template ... which I think we all take a lot of comfort in because a lot of research went into that."
Naperville School District 203's plan is similar. It incorporates the state's recommendations and ideas provided by the National Incident Management System.
"So it's not like we just decided, 'Let's put together a plan,'" said Kitty Ryan, District 203's assistant superintendent for school services and programs. "It is based on what we got from our federal government and our state school board, and it was created in very close consultation with the Naperville police and fire departments. We really haven't made a single step without looking it over very, very carefully."
And that plan is used for more than just Columbine-like scenarios. It applies to everything from bomb threats to bad weather, from medical emergencies to stranger danger alerts.
"We use it from the smallest incident to the most extreme," Ryan said.
And the cornerstone of that plan, Ryan said, is the district's relationship with the Naperville Police Department, which the district communicates with on a daily basis.
The police also prepare the school district for the potential occurrence of that "most extreme" scenario by frequently leading staff in Violent Encounter Staff Training exercises, also known as VEST.
"The police officers do an excellent job of actually taking the teacher or the custodian or the secretary, and putting them in the situation of, "OK, I'm there. I'm in the middle of this crisis. What's my responsibility to the students in this building?'" Ryan said.
This training is intended to make school staff realize they are the custodians of their own security, said Naperville police Sgt. Kathy Anderson, the District 203 student resource officer unit supervisor.
"You can't wait for your principal to say, 'OK, you're going to do this,'" she said. "You need to know what your responsibility is to those 25 to 30 kids, and, if you're in the cafeteria and you're responsible for a couple hundred kids, this is what you've got to do. Know the responsibilities ahead of time, know the procedures ahead of time, and, really, by teaching them that, you're empowering them. When an emergency comes up, they know what to do."
Day-to-day difference
School districts hope they never have to use these lockdown plans or put to test what was taught during these training sessions.
"We are much more vigilant about safety and security than we have ever been, just as people are in their personal lives," said Melanie Raczkiewicz, District 203's associate superintendent for operations. "We don't consider any threat to be inconsequential."
Although some refuse to hear it, the message from school districts is loud and clear — don't bring toy guns — or anything that could be mistaken for or actually used as a weapon — to school unless you want to be expelled.
And guests at the school are required to go to the front entrance and buzz in.
Staff members and students are encouraged to report anything suspicious, and to work together to assess the situation and help the potentially disenfranchised kid.
"It is really about empowering kids and helping them understand that this is your place, this is your home away from home, and we need to make sure that everybody is feeling like they can thrive here," said Beth Packer, a social worker at Neuqua Valley High School.
This attitude is what has really changed in the wake of Columbine, Birkett said.
"I'm not just talking about student safety from some predator who's going to come in and attack somebody," she said. "I'm talking about student safety amongst their peers — emotional safety. How safe do they feel in this environment? How safe do they feel to be themselves?"
Columbine's legacy
After Columbine, all threats are taken seriously
April 19, 2009
By DAN CAMPANA AND TIM WALDORF Staff Writers
The room was packed with Waubonsie Valley High School parents who were understandably scared and angry. They had been notified by e-mail or text message or phone tree their child's school was on lockdown because a gun may have been spotted.
Their worst fears — a litany of school shootings through the years — undoubtedly ran through their mind. One mother even tried to run into the school to grab her kids. She was stopped by police at the door.
Text messages coming from students broadcast wild rumors: bodies had been found, kids were hurt.
In front of the parents was Aurora police Lt. Paul Nelson, calmly swatting down rumor after rumor.
No one was injured. No shots had been fired. There is no gunman wandering the school.
Nelson was open, honest and not alarmist.
The panic subsided a bit. The room started to breathe. A few parents even smiled.
Inside the school, as officers checked the school room by room, the students waited for hours.
But even separated from their parents they were aware of their concerns. And so on three white pieces of paper they scribbled out for all to see: "WE R OK."
It has been 10 years
When you send your kids to school, you expect them to be safe. Teachers and administrators agree, saying school should be the safest place your child is all day.
In an attempt to better understand how educators work to keep kids safe in the post-Columbine era, The Naperville Sun sat down with local school district officials to discuss what has changed in the past decade. After discussing this issue with local school district officials, a few general themes emerged.
Most notably, plans — based on larger safety policies — now lay out particulars for what administrators, teachers and students do when an emergency strikes.
But safety plans and policies do more than just prepare for Columbine-like scenarios. While establishing a response to violent incidents, the districts also use plans to help school employees spot a troubled student's warning signs and deal with classroom medical emergencies.
Students are a part of the safety evolution, too.
Much of this is guided by state law. In 2005, the state Legislature passed the School Safety Drill Act, which established minimum standards for schools to follow when conducting safety drills and reviewing crisis plans. It also encouraged districts to work with local police and fire departments toward student safety goals. It was amended in December 2008 to mandate law enforcement drills based on each school's plan. Previously, such drills were only strongly encouraged.
In a basic sense, districts use a variety of ways to achieve safety goals. Police practice "active shooter" and "rapid response" drills, teachers are taught to instinctively act to ensure students' safety, and students are reminded not to let strangers into school buildings, to stand up to bullies and to report unusual behavior by classmates.
But perhaps the biggest change that has occurred since the Columbine High School massacre, which occurred April 20, 1999, is one in attitude. Any threat — big or small — is taken seriously, and every effort is made to make students feel safe to be themselves at school.
What was learned from Waubonsie?
Indian Prairie School District 204 learned valuable lessons from that Dec. 10 lockdown at Waubonsie.
"I learned that they were very prepared for that," said Kathy Birkett, District 204's deputy superintendent. "I learned that they were able to lock that building down instantaneously.
"And we learned more about what the Aurora police expect, and they learned more about what we expect," she added. "I think if God forbid we had another one we'd be that much better for it."
But what would they do different?
"We need to better plan for that outside push that has nothing to do with the safety of those kids inside — just a need for information," Birkett said.
But that's a tall order, said Janet Buglio, District 204's communication director.
"Part of the challenge is that you're limited by the direction you're getting from the police as to what the message can be," she said. "And you're never able to give the parents the full story as quickly as you want. So you let them know that their kids are safe, the building is on lockdown, the police are managing it."
District 204 did that through four messages sent to parents by Waubonsie Principal Kristine Marchiando.
Of course, students provided their parents with updates themselves.
Birkett said nobody was surprised that students used their cell phones to communicate with their parents — to tell them what was going on or that they were safe or, should anything tragic have occurred, that they loved them.
But, she said, officials were a bit surprised at how quickly the kids turned to their phones, and, in turn, how quickly parents responded.
Birkett said both District 204 and the Aurora Police Department learned "we need to have a much quicker plan to respond to that."
However, one student's use of a cell phone worked in the district's favor.
"We actually solved it because of a kid who got on his cell phone," Birkett said. "A student texted that they thought that they had seen X, Y and Z in a certain place, and that's how we found the (threat)."
Plan, training
The lockdown plan officials implemented at Waubonsie is the same plan most Illinois school districts have adopted in some form.
"We've adopted the state crisis plan," Birkett said. "They have a template ... which I think we all take a lot of comfort in because a lot of research went into that."
Naperville School District 203's plan is similar. It incorporates the state's recommendations and ideas provided by the National Incident Management System.
"So it's not like we just decided, 'Let's put together a plan,'" said Kitty Ryan, District 203's assistant superintendent for school services and programs. "It is based on what we got from our federal government and our state school board, and it was created in very close consultation with the Naperville police and fire departments. We really haven't made a single step without looking it over very, very carefully."
And that plan is used for more than just Columbine-like scenarios. It applies to everything from bomb threats to bad weather, from medical emergencies to stranger danger alerts.
"We use it from the smallest incident to the most extreme," Ryan said.
And the cornerstone of that plan, Ryan said, is the district's relationship with the Naperville Police Department, which the district communicates with on a daily basis.
The police also prepare the school district for the potential occurrence of that "most extreme" scenario by frequently leading staff in Violent Encounter Staff Training exercises, also known as VEST.
"The police officers do an excellent job of actually taking the teacher or the custodian or the secretary, and putting them in the situation of, "OK, I'm there. I'm in the middle of this crisis. What's my responsibility to the students in this building?'" Ryan said.
This training is intended to make school staff realize they are the custodians of their own security, said Naperville police Sgt. Kathy Anderson, the District 203 student resource officer unit supervisor.
"You can't wait for your principal to say, 'OK, you're going to do this,'" she said. "You need to know what your responsibility is to those 25 to 30 kids, and, if you're in the cafeteria and you're responsible for a couple hundred kids, this is what you've got to do. Know the responsibilities ahead of time, know the procedures ahead of time, and, really, by teaching them that, you're empowering them. When an emergency comes up, they know what to do."
Day-to-day difference
School districts hope they never have to use these lockdown plans or put to test what was taught during these training sessions.
"We are much more vigilant about safety and security than we have ever been, just as people are in their personal lives," said Melanie Raczkiewicz, District 203's associate superintendent for operations. "We don't consider any threat to be inconsequential."
Although some refuse to hear it, the message from school districts is loud and clear — don't bring toy guns — or anything that could be mistaken for or actually used as a weapon — to school unless you want to be expelled.
And guests at the school are required to go to the front entrance and buzz in.
Staff members and students are encouraged to report anything suspicious, and to work together to assess the situation and help the potentially disenfranchised kid.
"It is really about empowering kids and helping them understand that this is your place, this is your home away from home, and we need to make sure that everybody is feeling like they can thrive here," said Beth Packer, a social worker at Neuqua Valley High School.
This attitude is what has really changed in the wake of Columbine, Birkett said.
"I'm not just talking about student safety from some predator who's going to come in and attack somebody," she said. "I'm talking about student safety amongst their peers — emotional safety. How safe do they feel in this environment? How safe do they feel to be themselves?"