School safety is something everyone should have a complete understanding of, however, as with everything there are gaps of understanding. A common question is, in the case of a lockdown happening during lunchtime or before school, what is the procedure?

In an interview with Roosevelt Principal Dennis Love, he explained, “we’ll typically have people head out into the gym area or locker rooms.” 

He also explains that a lot is determined based on what type of threat is happening and where. For example, when asked if we would do any lockdowns while in the lunchroom or other times when we aren’t in a classroom, Love responded, ”I’m not sure if we will or not but it probably wouldn’t be too hard to practice.” 

There are so many places for students to flood into, and it could be chaotic. It would be very concerning if something happened in this type of environment.

For teachers communication is very difficult, everyone including the administration is piecing parts together so people often need to make decisions based on the information they have available. There may not be a full picture until the point after the threat is apprehended.

Love tells us that at the staff meeting a teacher asked if they could send a message out in a safe spot. He says yes, absolutely, but the problem is that the information shared could be inaccurate and once you press send it’s out there. 

The main priority for our administration and going down is student safety. No matter how much they would want everyone to know what’s going on, their priority is making sure every student is safe. 

In a world where school shootings have become so frequent, updating information and training is always happening and new things will always be coming up. We have been lucky to have an administration that is open to answering questions we may have and creating as safe a learning environment as we can.