By Austin Wymore, Kalissa Everett and Jaida Cooper Parrish
On Monday, the whole school went silent from 2:55 to 4:15.
At the beginning of fourth period principal Gloria Woods-Weeks announced over the loudspeaker that the campus was on lockdown. Students huddled in classroom corners, wondering what was going on as police officers searched the school room by room.
“It was like a routine lockdown [drill],” said sophomore Josh Elmenshawi. “It wasn’t a surprise to me.”
The lockdown occurred immediately after a scheduled fire drill. 20 minutes later, parents, students, and teachers found out all at once that it was real.
Woods-Weeks sent out an email to parents, informing them that the school was under lockdown while law enforcement investigated “a report of someone who may be in possession of a firearm on campus.”
“We all just got in the corner and then the police came in. They searched room to room,” Elmenshawi said.
Although everyone was safe, it didn’t go without its issues and concerns.
“There were students roaming the building,” said orchestra teacher Sara Moore. ”There were teachers still teaching…some teachers didn’t know during the lockdown because their intercom doesn’t work. Some teachers don’t have keys to their classrooms. That’s not the teacher’s fault.”
One of those teachers was our civics teacher Kayla Beckett.
“If you don’t have the tools necessary to protect your students, it’s kind of hard to figure out what to do,” Beckett said. “We didn’t know if it was a drill or if it was real. Whatever the case may be, we were very confused about what exactly happened in the first place.”
Beckett had been waiting months for a room key, finding custodians to open her door in the morning. When the lockdown was announced, she wasn’t able to lock the classroom.
“I felt like we weren’t even safe because we couldn’t even lock the door,” said sophomore Ja’Sona Simmons, who was in the unlocked room at the time.
Teachers were also frustrated to have learned additional details no sooner than parents.
“I think a lot of teachers were put off that we were finding out as parents and students were finding out, and not necessarily before,” said English teacher Emily Ericson. “That makes us look a little incompetent.”
Assistant Principal Tammy Patterson and Riverside school resource officers (SROs) declined interviews about the lockdown.
Though there were some concerns, teachers felt the situation was handled by law enforcement and school administration, and the school remained safe.
“I think it was handled about as well as you can when you have a threat or information like that,” said athletic director Robert Duncan. “I think as a school you could rehearse it more but there’s always variables like kids in hallways that aren’t in rooms or being in the middle of a class change or lunch session. And those are things that no one can control if we were to ever be in a situation like that again.”
“I am so proud of how quickly our staff handled it,” Ericson said. “I’m so proud of how many of our students responded in the situation as well. There was some beautiful problem solving.”
At 4:22, Woods-Weeks announced that everyone was safe and no weapon was found.
“The safety of our students remains a high priority for our school community,” she said in another message to parents. “We will continue to do everything within our power to keep our students safe.”
The lockdown was a scare for many students and teachers. Simmons hopes it serves as a wake up call.
“[The school] needs to get its stuff together and get the teachers what they need so that we are prepared for a situation if something really happens,” she said.
