The important role of parents during an emergency: Lessons learned during the nearly 2 ½ hour lockdown at Fairview & Southern Hills

Nearly a week after the Lockdown at Fairview High School and Southern Hills Middle School, members of the District Parent Council (DPC) gathered for their monthly meeting and had the opportunity to hear from Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) leaders who had responded to the situation. Thankfully, it turned out to be a false alarm, but it was clear from the parents’ experiences and questions, the event, which came less than 24 hours after the shooting at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County, shook the community.

“It was definitely very scary, especially knowing what had happened the day before,” explained Sabina Zolot, a parent of a Fairview sophomore and Eisenhower Elementary School fifth grader. “Our kids have gone through drills, but we've never been through an actual Lockdown or experienced any kind of thing like this.” 

On the morning of September 11, police received the report of a possible person with a gun in the neighborhood near the Fairview/Southern Hills campus. Fairview was placed into Secure by the school's School Safety Advocate, after hearing police radio traffic regarding the report. Responding police officers then placed both schools on the campus in Lockdown.

“My immediate reaction was, you’ve got to be kidding me,” shared Mike Lakritz, the father of a Fairview junior and Southern Hills eighth grader. “It’s [the anniversary of] 9/11. It's the day after Evergreen.”

The Standard Response Protocol and the difference between Secure and Lockdown
School districts across the country, including BVSD, use the Standard Response Protocol developed by the “I Love U Guys” Foundation, following the 2006 shooting at Platte Canyon High School in Jefferson County, Colorado. It is helpful because it provides both school personnel and first responders a shared vocabulary during an emergency – five simple commands, prompting specific actions to keep students and staff safe. 

In the SRP, Secure is typically used when a threat is considered outside of the building and it prompts school staff to bring students in from outside and to lock the outer doors, but activities continue as normal inside. 

A Lockdown is much more serious, because it is activated when a threat is considered to be inside the building, or imminent. Staff bring students into classrooms, lock the doors, turn out the lights and have students wait quietly out of view from the outside, including hallways. Students who cannot find a locked space and can self-evacuate are encouraged to do so. Doors remain locked, until law enforcement or district security releases the rooms.

In this case police were able to determine that there was no threat. It was a man with a weighted vest and holding his phone in his hand that prompted the reported concern. Out of an abundance of caution, officers decided to continue their sweep of the schools due to multiple calls from parents who advised their child inside heard concerning noises.

Editor’s Note: It is important to mention, as part of BVSD’s regular practice, district and school personnel, as well as our partners in law enforcement will be debriefing the situation, with an eye towards continuous improvement. This article is not intended to be a comprehensive report on what occurred, what parties were responsible, or recommendations for future improvements.

The longest wait: What parents should do during an emergency

A short time before the situation began to unfold, Zolot and other Fairview parents had attended a coffee with the principal event at the school, so she wasn’t too far away from the campus when she got the Secure and then Lockdown alerts from BVSD.

“I was definitely surprised when the school went into Secure, but not too nervous. The Lockdown came pretty quickly and I definitely got more nervous,” Zolot said. “I didn't want to go too far away since I was in the area already.  We live in a different area [of Boulder], so I just went to the South [Boulder] Rec Center to wait and see what was going on. There were a lot of parents gathering at the rec center.” 

Other parents began showing up on the edge of campus and stayed, even after police issued a Shelter-In-Place order for the community.

“As a parent, I absolutely understand the natural instinct to want to be close,” admitted Carissa Jaquish, the Assistant Director of security and emergency management.

During a Lockdown, however, parents are not able to go to the school and pick up their children. Instead, she encourages them to:

Stay Away from the Area
The most important contribution you can make to your student and your own safety may be staying away from the school.

Stay Informed
Information will be shared with families as soon as possible. Please know, in some situations, accurate information may take some time to verify and share.

Be Ready
Be prepared to follow instructions from the Boulder Valley School District.

“What is the best thing I can do to help my kid, during an emergency? Getting resources to them quickly, right? The best help I can do is by not clogging the roadways or not becoming part of the incident itself,” Jaquish explained. 

Law enforcement and school personnel are busy responding to the situation. The arrival of parents or calls may distract them from their work.

The fog of emergencies

During a Lockdown, law enforcement go room to room, sweeping the building to look for the reported gunman. This can take a significant amount of time – about two hours, in this case. 

The wait was long. The lack of information, while normal early in an emergency, can be excruciating. The rumors can be disorienting.

“It was very chaotic and scary that day,” said Zolot. “I was just very nervous for a while and it was hard not knowing what was going on.”

During any emergency, it can take time for information to be confirmed and disseminated. BVSD works to provide parents with updates on a variety of communication avenues, including:

• The District Website
• BVSD’s Emergency Information page
• Voice, text and email messaging (SchoolMessenger)
• Social media, including Facebook and Twitter
• Local News Media 

Little information, however, is available during a Lockdown – for good reason. Law enforcement, who are in charge, while officers work to secure the buildings, worry that releasing tactical information, even reassuring information about which areas have been cleared, can inadvertently put first responders in harm's way.

Naturally turn to each other and a variety of sources to piece together what is happening. In this case, as the situation stretched on, parents at the rec center and elsewhere, including Lakritz, who was at work in Denver at the time of the incident, tuned into police scanner traffic for whatever details they could gather. 

While those transmissions may bring some insight, Jaquish urges caution.

“The radio traffic is information coming from officers on the ground, and only provides a small fraction of information,” Jaquish said. “When you listen in to the police scanner you are not hearing everything being shared, such as through phone calls, text, 911 centers, or non-public police channels.”

Additionally, she says that it is easy for rumors to fill the void.

“During the situation at Fairview, we had kids telling their parents, ‘I'm hearing shots fired,’ Jaquish shared. “There were no shots, whatsoever.”

It is possible that students might have heard bangs, as officers were moving through the building, but when shared through word of mouth or social media – it can create unneeded concern in the community.

Instead, she said it is best for concerns to be shared directly by witnesses to law enforcement through text messaging 911 or through Safe2Tell. This allows them to do it quietly and to answer additional questions from dispatchers that can help ascertain whether there is truly a threat.

Additionally, in addition to monitoring updates from the district, she encourages everyone to  sign up for updates from their local municipalities – so they have a direct feed of factual information from the authorities.

Providing support, from afar

These emergencies can be incredibly traumatic for children, whether it is the real thing or a false alarm.

The parents we spoke to shared that the staff at the schools did a good job of supporting their children during the event.

“[My daughter’s math] teacher was super supportive from what she said,” Zolot said. “I know she was very scared before they knew things were ok and he was there to support them.”

Additionally, both Zolot and Lakritz were eventually able to connect with their children by text message or email.

While best practice during an emergency is for everyone to leave their phone off during an emergency and BVSD’s policy restricts the use of cell phones during the school day – we do permit students to have access once the danger is over. Children who are given permission by their teacher, may reach out to their family, who can provide calm in what can be a very traumatic situation.

“I just wanted to try to convey to her that things were looking okay,” Lakritz said. “They, of course, were wondering why everything was taking so long. I was just telling her that I'm sure they were just trying to be extra safe.”

Being prepared for reunification

When the emergency ends, parents are provided details regarding what will happen next. It is important that parents are ready to spring into action to pick up their child, at the location provided.

The parents at DPC did have a good question – regarding what happens if they are not available.

BVSD allows families to add other adults as emergency contacts in Infinite Campus, and they are permitted to pick up children if the parents or guardians are unavailable. This should be done before an emergency, so that a contingency plan is in place.

Whether it is the parent or another adult, they’ll want to bring a photo ID.