Indoor safety protocols
Gordon is required by the state to conduct two indoor safety drills a year. The purpose of these drills is to make sure that everyone in the building, including our students, understands our indoor safety protocols in the unlikely event of a threat inside or immediately outside of the building, so all adults and children on campus can act quickly and effectively.
For some children and adults, drills such as these can evoke real and lasting anxiety. At the same time, it can also be worrisome to not know what Gordon would do in the case of an indoor safety threat. Allowing for this imperfect reality, the Leadership Team has created a balanced approach to practicing our indoor safety protocols. In the end, we need to trust that letting students know what is expected of them, in age-appropriate ways, is the best way to prepare them to confidently face an indoor safety threat.
The steps outlined below take into account the emotional and psychological impact of these drills alongside the school’s responsibility to ensure that everyone in the building feels sufficiently prepared to respond to an indoor safety threat. The drill will take place each year in two phases: the first will be discussion; the second phase will be practice.
Our current protocol
For those of you unfamiliar with how indoor safety drills in the case of a building threat have worked at Gordon: an alarm goes off in the school, and an announcement of "Code Red" plays over the school's sound system. This alarm is different from the fire evacuation alarm that students are already familiar with.
When students hear the alert, they should be still, be quiet and wait for an adult to give them instructions.
In this protocol, adults in the building must use their best judgment to determine the appropriate actions based on the facts on the ground or information at hand. Actions could include guiding the class to the safe spot in the room, as in drills of the past, or it could mean leading students out of the classroom into another safe location in the building or even off campus.
All of these scenarios have been reviewed and discussed with our faculty and staff.
Introducing the protocols in age-appropriate ways
The mere discussion of an indoor building threat can generate strong emotions for both children and adults. For this reason, our first step is to intentionally frame the indoor safety protocols and listen closely to our students. The following describes the general approach that we take with different groups of students to review the indoor safety protocols and prepare them for actually practicing them.
The “Code Red” alert are played in classrooms or divisional meetings so that students have familiarity with the sound. The instructions students will receive is that when they hear the alert, they should be still, be quiet and wait for an adult to give them instructions.
Early Childhood
It is unlikely that many children in these grades have detailed knowledge of the tragic events happening in schools around the country and why we might have a need for a drill like this. Teachers will let the students know that sometimes we have to leave the building in order to be safe, as in the case of a fire, and there are times when we need to stay in the building in order to be safe, as in the case of extreme weather, a stray dog on campus, or a stranger in the building. While it's important for our students to know the whys of an indoor safety drill, we will focus more on the hows. Experts say that keeping young children's attention on the procedural elements of the drill helps to keep them from becoming too worried about the reasons for it.
Lower School
Elementary-aged children are more likely to be aware of the tragic things that can happen in the world. In describing the reasons for the indoor safety drill, teachers will focus on the fact that it is unlikely that something bad would happen to them at school, and we will talk about all of the things that the school is doing to keep them safe.
Middle School
Most early adolescents are very tuned into current events. The older they are, the more media they are likely to consume. Our approach in Middle School is to give time to helping students understand and process a world where exercises like an indoor safety drill are necessary. Teachers will have developmentally appropriate conversations, so students can understand the purpose of the drill as well as the expectations for the procedure. Teachers will answer questions and validate their students' feelings.
Practicing the protocols
When classes in all divisions have completed their discussions about the indoor safety drill, we will have our first practice. All students and Gordon employees will be given notice of the date and time of the drill. The school will provide notice to families as well.
On the determined date, the “Code Red” alert will be played over the sound system of the school.
When students hear the alert, they have been asked to immediately look to an adult for instruction, knowing that different classrooms might receive different guidance. We also need to build in some flexibility for the adult in charge of students to be responsive to the situation at hand. A fire alarm is intended to build muscle memory, an automatic response to leave the building. In the case of a “Code Red,” the automatic response we want to provoke in our students is to immediately stop and pay attention to an adult.
Some classes may be instructed to practice moving to the safe spot in the classroom. Others may be asked to gather close to their teacher until the all clear comes. Down the road, Middle School teachers may take the opportunity to practice walking students to a safe off-campus location.
While students at Gordon are monitored by adults at all times, there are times when older Lower and Middle School students may find themselves in the bathroom or walking in the hallway to the bathroom without immediate adult supervision. During indoor safety drills, all students will be with a teacher, but they will be instructed on what to do if the “Code Red” alert was to sound outside of a scheduled drill and they were not near an adult.
Instructions for non-employees in the building
Parents and caregivers who may be working in the Commons during an indoor safety drill should look for direction from a faculty or staff member when they hear the “Code Red” alert. If no Gordon employees are in sight, please go into the nearest lockable room, which would be one of the adult bathrooms nearby, Ms. Jutras' office or the faculty lounge. All of these locations are on or directly adjacent to the Main Street hallway that leads from the dining hall to the Middle School entrance.