By Dennis Morgan
Co-Publisher
Implementation of the school’s lockdown procedures was explained during last week’s meeting of the District #18 Board of Education.
The subject has been on the minds of some in light of a recent incident whereby the school went into lockdown when the Antelope County Sheriff’s Department attempted to catch a man who had stolen a pickup from Boyd’s Electric. The chase, which began in Antelope County concluded that afternoon south of Wayne.
Polk said the school received a call from Antelope County Sheriff Bob Moore to initiate a lockdown. Seconds later, school secretary Paula Jensen notified Pope John and all schools in Elgin were on lockdown.
At EPS, he said it took 15-20 seconds to get the school locked down. The lockdown lasted for approximately 90 minutes before the lockdown was lifted and schools resumed regular operations.
Polk said he needs to visit with Sheriff Moore as there are four different lockdown procedures which can be implemented. “They need to say why,” the superintendent said.
“We did not and do not send out messages (to parents saying a lockdown has been implemented),” the superintendent said.
He said notifying parents that the school was in lockdown would likely results in parents coming to the school or calling the school for more information at the moment, creating more of a situation (parents coming to school to get their children).
He said right now the school does not have an established policy for making public announcements. He suggested some form of notification be made, via text or email, once the lockdown is lifted. Board member Lisa Welding asked if that could be made part of school policy.
“The way you handled it was ‘spot on’,” board member Rob Bode told school administration officials.
Board member Stan Heithoff said this is a topic which could be discussed with parents at the start of the school year when they go over the student handbook.
In the case of the most recent lockdown, once The Elgin Review learned the lockdown had been lifted, it was posted on its social media sites to keep the public abreast of the situation.
