On Friday, Dr O’Neill shared some information about the district partnering with the Norton Police and Fire Departments and our School Resource Officers to begin practicing school lockdown drills. Like other types of safety drills, including fire drills, lockdown drills help students and staff know what to do in the unlikely event of an emergency. In elementary schools, the focus during safety drills is on listening to the teacher, staying calm, and practicing routines that help everyone stay safe. It’s completely understandable that JCS families may be concerned about what types of information will be discussed with students and how the drill will be carried out.
At Mr. Barrette’s prior K-5 school in RI, they held two lock down drills per year, so he has a lot of experience with these types of drills. We won’t be talking about unnecessary details and situations that were not age-appropriate or could scare our students. We will simply talk about how we will stay safe if something is happening in the neighborhood or area. We will not be discussing or talking about school shootings. Our Norton School Resource Officers have age appropriate materials to use to introduce the safety drills to even our youngest students. They are going to work with principals and administrators to plan for each specific school to make sure the information and approach is age appropriate.
