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Our Worst Nightmare: Escambia Schools Have Shooting, Lockdown Plans In Place
December 15, 2012
“Our worst nightmare” — that’s how Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas described the elementary school shooting Friday in Connecticut that took the lives of 20 children, a school principal and five other adults.
“To think that some deranged person can take aware the future, the lives of elementary school students just rips your heart out,” he said Friday afternoon. “It’s a very sad day for all of us.”
All Escambia County schools have lockdown and emergency plans in place to deal swiftly with any security threat. During lockdowns, the schools are physically locked and isolated from the outside world — no one goes in, no one goes out except for law enforcement. That includes parents, Thomas said, “because perhaps the person you let in is the very threat you are trying to keep out”.
“You do everything reasonable to protect the schools and the children,” he said. The scenario in Connecticut has some aspects that are pretty frightening to me, despite all of the plans, all the of the technology in place to protect the children.”
“He (the Connecticut gunman) had probably gone to that school before since his mother taught there. The people at the school likely knew him, so they may not have viewed him as a threat. They might have let him in because they knew him, like happens many times a day in schools everywhere with parents, volunteers and others known to the school staff. That is frightening.”
For obvious reasons, Thomas declined to discuss the specifics of security plans in Escambia County schools. But he did mention technology plays a role, such as new security doors installed before this school year at Bratt Elementary. Before an individual can enter the school, they must be “buzzed” through the locked doors. Similar security doors are also in place at most schools in the county.
Each school practices lockdown and evacuation procedures with students and staff, and sometimes they get experience with real lockdowns.
Following the November shooting death of a store clerk during the robbery of the State Line O’Yes Lotto in Davisville, Ernest Ward Middle, Bratt Elementary and Northview High schools were placed on lockdown within minutes as a precaution as law enforcement searched the for armed suspects.
On-duty, armed Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies are on the campuses of Escambia County’s middle and high schools.
Pictured: Extra deputies remained the Ernest Ward Middle School campus after a lockdown ended following the murder of a store clerk in November. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
12 Responses to “Our Worst Nightmare: Escambia Schools Have Shooting, Lockdown Plans In Place”
Breaking out is different from breaking in. Fewer tools, less access, guards watching every inch of the fence with shotguns in hand.
David for guard towers
Im for better people too David but let’s face it that isn’t going to happen. The world has gone to hell in a hand basket. If it were That easy to burst through a fence like prisons have don’t ya think there would be breakouts all the time? I do. It is time we do something to secure our schools more than just a pop lock door.
REGARDING:
“Fence is a one time expense…”
Fences are easily taken down. Now if you had fence and mock orange all along the fence line on both sides, you might have a barrier.
and a moat
and air cover.
Even with that, people could get through, just shoot the guard (if they are coming in to kill, one more won’t dissuade them) or drive through with a large stolen vehicle.
Nice try, though.
David for better people
Bellview Elementary does not have the above described doors and probably never will, my children attended this school and now my grandchildren attend this school and nothing has changed. Sure you are suppose to check into the office but nothing stops you from wondering in and out of the buildings and no one asks you what you are doing. I know this from experience when I entered through the wrong door into the lunch room and again wondering around looking for my grandson. This school has separate portable units and separate buildings and the doors stand wide open, not security to speak of, just saying.
I agree with Trisha and I’d like to know what security measures are being taken for the portables at Bratt. My child’s class is in one of those portables and that was the first thing I thought of when I discovered his classroom was there.
All of the fences, gates, locks, security doors, camera’s, and gun control you can imagine won’t treat mental illness. We need our publicly funded mental hospitals back. We need to make it as easy as possible for mental health professionals to identify, treat, and commit if necessary any citizen with a mental illness.
I say the school district needs to build fences around these schools like a prison. No one enters and no one leaves unless they pass through a sally port operated by a deputy period. Fence is a one time expense…deputy is about 30000 a year.? Don’t know what they make…but I’m sure that’s pushing the top on their salary. Any amount of money that must be payed would be well worth it to know our counties kids are safe. If some county would step up and do this and get it published then it may take a dominoe effect and others throughout the country will…which in turn will protect all of our children.
i have been told that at one time in alabama the school teachers were deputized.perhaps a twist on that could be part of the solution. ask for volunteers to be trained and deputized. then when a situation came up ther would be a better chance of stopping a crisis before it esculated to a catastrophe. extreme, perhaps, but it would give our children and grandchildren a better chance at surviving. onr armed teacher, coach, administrator could possibly stop an attack before it got bad. taking out a threat at the start seems preferable to the alternative. sure we all have rights, including the wackos. i feel that our right to protect our children by far exceeds the rifht of someone who is planning harm to our familiy. extreme, perhaps. extreme situations call for extreme measures.
I feel like throwing up when I think about what those parents must be going through. Why can’t those people (mass murderers) just shoot them selfs and burn in hell why kill others?
What about the portable buildings on Bratt campus? They look like trailer doors and probably could just be kicked in if a situation like this happened here…Perhaps we need cops at “our elementary schools” too……
MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS FOR EVERY PARENT AND FAMILY AFFECTED BY THIS EVIL AN WICKED ACT. IM A MOTHER OF 7 I HAVE TWO IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL K & 3 GRADE MY CONCERN IS THIS, MANY TIMES I HAVE WALKED DIRECTLY INTO MY KIDS SCHOOL THEN HAVE WAITED AT THE DESK FOR SOMEONE TO COME IF I WERE A GUNMAN NOBODY WOULDVE EVEN KNOWN I WAS THERE THIS TERRIFIES ME NOT TO MENTION THE 30 DOORS AROUND THE SCHOOL IN WHICH ARE NOT LOCKED ! IM HONESTLY AFRAID TO SEND MY KIDS BACK. THEIR TRULY NOT PROTECTED THINK ABOUT IT WHEN THERES A BOMB THREAT THE KIDS REMAIN IN THE SCHOOL IN A HALLWAY AND PARENTS ARE NOT NOTIFIED!
This is a sad situation to have to deal with on any day, more the less the days before christmas. Which makes it harder for the families of these precious children and others that were hurt . There was no reason for this at all. My heart goes out to everyone may god bless you with the strength to get threw this tragedy. I also think that all of our schools need the security doors like bratt elementary even the high schools. I actually think all schools need a metal detector that they have to go threw before they enter the schools and then they can go threw the security doors.