Schools lock down after shooting
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on April 14, 2015 1:46 PM
Wayne County School Board Member Rick Pridgen has had many conversations with his wife, Allison, about school safety and the realization that school shootings are becoming more a question of "when" than "if."
Monday's shooting at Wayne Community College evoked a chilling response from the Pridgen at Monday night's school board meeting -- "'When' happened today," he said.
Pridgen said his emotions were mixed. "Saddened" by what happened, he was also proud of the community's response.
"I think our community responded quickly and I hope and pray that we never have to face that again," he said. "My heart goes out to people that work there, those that are going to be going back (today).
"I know that we'll all be proactive as a result of this rather than reactive."
Interim Superintendent Dr. Sandra McCullen praised school district staff who had worked to keep a sense of normalcy on a day that was far from normal.
"We followed policies and appropriate protocol in working with law enforcement," she said. "We notified parents and students as soon as we possibly could."
Tommy's Road Elementary School, the closest public school to the college, was placed on lockdown and students at Wayne Early/Middle College High School, housed at WCC, and those in dual enrollment college programs, were also alerted to stay away from the scene.
Even though Wayne Early/Middle starts later than traditional schools, buses were already on the roads because some students had 8 a.m. college classes, she said. Those buses were rerouted to Wayne School of Engineering at Goldsboro High School.
Mrs. McCullen said 31 students were actually in the category of having the early morning classes, and "all of them were accounted for" by mid-morning.
"Many of them did not get to campus," she said. "(Principal Lee) Johnson called all the parents."
Notifications were also sent out to high school principals about students in the dual enrollment program, alerting them to the situation and advising that students instead attend classes at their base schools.
The situation was similar to an exercise the district participated in months earlier.
"We just had training last summer and went through this very scenario at the University of Mount Olive," Mrs. McCullen said. "Brian Taylor and local EMS and county government, he trained all of our principals and assistant principals."
In such a situation, she said the protocol is to set up an incident command center. The command center is beneficial when multiple agencies are involved, she explained, in order to provide a clearinghouse for disseminating accurate information.
"They have been forthcoming in telling us everything," she said. "We have heard so many different rumors that were not always true."
It was, in fact, a rumor that tipped off administrators at Tommy's Road of the potential danger.
"When the call came in, they heard rumors. The school went immediately into lockdown," said Ken Derksen, director of communication services. "That would no different than if they saw anyone out in the field that was questionable."
The situation actually constituted a "soft lockdown," he said, so named because it happened away from the campus and was not considered as presenting imminent danger.
In full lockdown mode, the procedure would include locking all doors, covering all windows and doorways and allowing no movement within the building. There would be no instruction taking place and no one would be allowed to enter or exit the building.
"There would have been more steps taken" if the situation warranted it, Derksen said.
"With a soft lockdown, administrators were able to walk up and down the hall, to go to the restroom and back. They were more managed."
Lunch was also managed differently.
"Lunches were not served in the cafeteria this morning," he said. "They were served in the rooms. With a full lockdown, you don't have the luxury in even having lunch."
Law enforcement provided a presence at the school, Derksen said, monitoring the tree line behind the school and being positioned at the main entrances.
The lockdown lasted for nearly four hours. At 10:48 a.m., the incident command center alerted school officials that they could release students to parents.
The lockdown was lifted after noon.
The school system has policies and procedures in place for a variety of scenarios, from chemical spills and school shootings to reacting to a bee sting.
"The schools practice lockdown drills annually and they also review protocol throughout the year," Derksen said. "We have flip charts in our classroom and emergency procedures, a school crisis plan.
Even though there appeared to be no threat to students at the elementary school, the fact that it was only a mile and a half away warranted the safety measures.
"We had to be proactive," he said, adding, "We're very appreciative of local law enforcement. They were here the entire time of the lockdown and assisting at the front of the school as well."