Lockdown Drill
Lockdown Drill
CPSELs
3.1 Sustain safe, efficient, clean, well-maintained, and productive school environment that nurtures student learning and supports the professional growth of teachers and support staff.
3.4 Utilize effective systems management, organizational development, and problem-solving and decision-making techniques.
3.5 Align fiscal, human, and material resources to support the learning of all subgroups of students.
3.6 Monitor and evaluate the program and staff.
5.9 Encourage and inspire others to higher levels of performance, commitment, and motivation.
It was a great pleasure and experience working with my amazing and very professional Assistant Principal Monica Iannessa in this Lockdown Drill. For several weeks Monica met with different stakeholder groups to structure the plan and ensure that every detail was taken care of before the day of the drill.
Monica sent several e-mails to teachers, administrators and staff giving important and detailed information about what to do before, during and after the lockdown drill.
This activity gave me a great opportunity to utilize effective systems management, organizational development, and problem solving and decision making techniques. The day before the activity I made a Robocall in English and Spanish to all parents advising them that on Friday May 25, 2012 the school will be conducting a lockdown drill. We wanted to make sure that it was clearly stated and parents understood that it was only a drill. I must confess that I was a bit nervous to do the recording because I had never done anything like this before, but I also understood that this is one of the so many different activities I'll be doing as a school principal, thus, gave it my best shot and was very happy to hear from my students that they liked the way I sounded in the message.
The day of the drill as part of the "rescue" team I was given an orange vest and a walkie-talkie. My responsibility was to be the recorder and timekeeper of the drill. As soon as we received the phone call from the LAPD the school made an announcement that we were on a lockdown. As a recorder and timekeeper, the second I heard the announcement I started my stopwatch and on a recording sheet that Monica provided, I began to record time and actions that students were taken. Students had been advised to find the nearest room as soon as they heard the announcement and when it was made, students walked very fast and some ran to find a safe place.
At two minutes and seven seconds it was officially called an all-clear situation. As part of my duties and responsibilities I checked different classrooms to ensure that: 1) classroom doors were locked and 2) even when I knocked no one would open the door.
After the event, I sat in on an administrative debrief session with Dr. Pam Magee, Monica and staff members who had key roles during the drill. Through this debriefing we were able to monitor and evaluate the drill and staff; we evaluated the strengths and weakness of the operation.
I learned from taking on this leadership role that creating a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment requires a teamwork who understands the goal of the activity and are willing to make things work, even when people at school don't think activities such as this one are important. As a team, we maintained a high level of enthusiasm and modeled hard work and commitment to make this drill very successful.
