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Planning for the worst

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Friday, May 04, 2007

FORT SIMPSON - In the case of an emergency all schools in the Deh Cho have their own lockdown procedures.

The plans were developed after the minister of education mandated last year that all schools in the territory need to have an emergency plan, said Nolan Swartzentruber, the superintendent of the Dehcho Divisional Education Council.

In the Deh Cho because every school has a different floor layout and every community is different, each school was asked to develop their own personalized procedure. Principals at the school were given until February 2007 to have the plans completed, said Swartzentruber.

The procedures have been compiled in a booklet in the council's office in Fort Simpson where they can be reviewed and updated when necessary. The procedures outline what measures will be taken if students or staff are threatened.

The responses vary depending on the situation at hand, but most of the procedures presume the threat is coming from the outside of the school. The purpose of a lockdown is to secure the students in their classrooms or whatever room they are in at the time, he said.

The students are confined to the school instead of sending them outside into harm's way and the proper authorities such as the RCMP are alerted.

To his knowledge there haven't been any threats to schools in the Deh Cho, said Swartzentruber.

The principals and teachers at the schools are, however, aware of the need for the procedures and why they should be practised.

"They are quite aware of that and the events of last week have only made it a higher priority," said Swartzentruber.

On April 16, a shooting at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus in Blacksbury, Virginia, United States, left 32 dead.

The responsibility for practising the lockdown procedures has been left with the individual schools. The schools have been encouraged to hold drills and many already have, said Swartzentruber.

At the Chief Julian Yendo school in Wrigley the students have already practised their lockdown procedure.

The students actually enjoyed the practice, said teacher Pamela Waygood. There has never been a threat at the school, she added.

"We hope we never have to use it," she said.

In Kakisa, the students at the Kakisa Lake school have talked about the procedure.

"They understand what it's all about and what they need to do," said teacher and principal Sheila Hilliard.

Although they can't completely finish the drill, students have even been practising in Trout Lake at the Charles Tetcho school.

The school is still waiting for one lock to be installed so the structure can be completely secured, said teacher and principal Maria Jones.

"The students understand about it," she said referring to the procedure.

Even in a community as small as Trout Lake it's important to be prepared, she said.

"I think we need to have precautionary measures," said Jones.