Over Christmas break, the Springdale Police Department’s SWAT team and a team of school resource officers attended a training to learn how to respond to potentially harmful intruders. The training lasted several hours long and included a tour of the school.

“It’s a very sensitive subject,” said school resource officer Tommy Wooten. “You don’t want to think about violence in school, but national accidents are showing we need to.”

On the return from Christmas break, students were welcomed back with a review of the safety policies. Every class period, teachers reminded students of where they are supposed to go and what they are supposed to do in case of a lockdown.

“It was a good idea, but it was annoying having to practice it in every class,” said senior Bailey Sims.

The staff and faculty have made procedures clear if an intruder enters the school while students are in class.

A passing period leaves five minutes between classes where students are not in a specifically designated area. Although specific places are not assigned for each student, safety procedures are still in place.

“We still follow the procedure of announcing a lockdown,” said assistant principal Shannon Tisher. “Students should take cover in the closest classroom.”

Another situation that was not addressed with a specific plan outlined is what to do if an armed intruder entered the building during lunch. According to Mrs. Tisher, if students were at lunch and a shooter entered the main building away from the cafeteria, the students in the cafeteria would be evacuated and would cross the field and go to Hellstern. If the shooter was in the cafeteria, students would take cover in the room behind the stage or in the serving area.

Although these situations are unlikely, there is a plan. Student knowledge of the safety procedures is a major part of the defense.

“At every faculty meeting we have, we go over a part of the safety plan,” said Mrs. Tisher.

This spring, the school will have a lockdown drill along with an alert status drill. The student body will be notified before the drills, and the school administration is working on setting specific dates.

“You can’t really prepare for every situation,” said Officer Wooten. “You either have to run to get to safety, hide in the closest location, or fight back. We are strongest in our numbers.”