A recent public records request revealed the Carter County School System was not maintaining proper documentation of safety drills according to the system’s top official.
To help preserve the safety of schools for the staff and students, Dr. Kevin Ward said each school must perform several different safety drills throughout the school year. Each month, every school must perform a fire safety drill. Schools must also routinely practice earthquake and tornado drills, which Ward said are typically held leading up to the severe weather season. Additionally, each school has a minimum of three lockdown drills during the school year.
In searching through the records of the safety activities, Ward said he and other system supervisors discovered some schools failed to adequately document all of their drills. Ward said he also learned that some schools had, in fact, missed a few drills.
“We had a few schools that had missed one or two drills over the period of a couple of years,” Ward said.
Those missed drills happened during a December, which is a short month for the school system, and during a January when schools faced scheduling issues due to inclement weather. Ward said he and other system supervisors have met with principals and are working with them to ensure staff adheres to drill schedules.
While reviewing the documentation issue, Ward said he and other system supervisors visited individual schools to see how school staff performed the safety drills.
The students exited their classrooms during the drills and followed the proper evacuation routes or safety procedures without being coached or prodded by the teachers, Ward said.
“You could tell they knew what to do and that the drills were being done,” Ward said.
While school staff had missed some drills, Ward said the primary issue facing the system was making sure drills are accurately documented.
“We realized we had a weakness here and we needed to fix it,” Ward said. “I developed an administrative policy and gave it to the principals.”
The new policy outlines how drills are to be documented, but it also details when drills should be held.
“All drills are to be completed on a monthly basis and completed in the first two weeks of the month,” Ward said. “In that third week Mickey (Taylor) reviews his spreadsheet with the drills, and he can send a friendly reminder to those who haven’t done them yet.”
Setting the drills not only creates a routine that will be easier for school staff to remember, but it also gives them time to reschedule the event if need be. Ward said the new policy also creates a network of checks and balances to help the system ensure drills are held, and documentation is completed.
“Safety has to be first and foremost our top priority,” Ward said. “Safety is like academics, you have to be constantly looking to see where you can improve.”
Ward said he and system supervisors also frequently visit schools to ensure staff comply with other safety procedures, such as verifying and signing in all visitors. On two occasions recently, Ward said he was visiting schools, and when he tried to enter through a side door the students refused to let him in, and he had to go through the main entrance and be buzzed into the school by the office staff.
Schools also practice both “soft lockdown” and “hard lockdown” procedures, Ward said. During a “soft lockdown” staff secure the perimeter of the building and bring all of the students housed in modular units into the main school building. Movement between rooms inside the building is still permitted during a soft lockdown. For a “hard lockdown,” Ward said staff secure the perimeter and then students and employees lockdown in place.
Each school holds lockdown drills at least three times per school year, Ward said. While the staff and students practice the lockdown procedures, Ward said traditionally schools do not perform “active shooter drills” during the school day while students are present. Schools typically host such events during the summer months or other times when students are out of school.
“The guns they use sound real and can be terrifying for the kids,” Ward explained. “It could terrify some child to the point where they don’t want to come back to school.”