Active shooter drill followup

By Ken McLemore, 03/19/18 9:38 AM

HOPE – Hope High School went dark and on lockdown for about 15 minutes Thursday as administrators, faculty and staff participated in an “active shooter” scenario drill.
No students were on campus during the course of the drill.
HHS Principal Bill Hoglund said the intent of the drill was two-fold, as a test of new campus wide security measures and an experience test for campus personnel.
“What I wanted for us to take away from this is that the important thing is to first protect your students and yourself,” Hoglund told teachers and staff in a post-drill briefing.
He said the electronic security measures installed this year provided a rapid response mechanism, as well as a shield for the campus by “locking down” the entire campus. Each exterior doorway on campus has been tied to the system, and cannot be opened without an electronic key fob during daily operations.
Hoglund said should an intruder be discovered on campus, once the campus goes to a “lockdown” status, none of those key fobs will work.
“Our school resource officers will be in the building moving directly to the trouble,” he said. “No-one else will be able to get inside the building.”
Hoglund said that during any “lockdown,” campus administrative personnel will not remain in the main office, but will seek safe shelter elsewhere. Teachers were reminded that they need to emphasize awareness of surroundings to students should a genuine “lockdown” occur.
HPSD Facilities and Transportation Director Maurice Henry said Thursday that he was pleased with the drill.
“It showed that our new security system works well,” Henry said.