The official tasked with ensuring Chinook's Edge School Division schools are prepared for the worst said last week's lockdown of three Innisfail schools went exactly as planned.Safety manager Linden Lonsberry said all schools are required to conduct at least one lockdown drill per year. He said the Sept. 12 lockdown, which started shortly before 3 p.m. and lasted for between 12 and 15 minutes, was handled properly by staff and students at Innisfail Jr/Sr High School, Innisfail Middle School and …cole John Wilson Elementary School.ìAll reports that I got and people that I talked to said it went exceedingly well,î he said. ìThe only fault on the whole thing was, after the fact, there were two schools (Innisfail Middle School and …cole John Wilson Elementary School) that weren't notified the threat was over. That's a non-issue because the threat was dealt with, the schools were locked down a few minutes longer than necessary. It's better than not (being) locked down long enough.îChinook's Edge superintendent Kurt Sacher said staff handled the situation well. Letters were sent home to parents the day after the lockdown explaining the situation.ìWe're quite pleased with it, but we always know we can do better with processes,î he said.Innisfail RCMP said the incident is still under investigation. A staff member from the high school had called police after hearing a ìsharpî sound that sounded suspiciously like a shotgun.ìIt was believed to possibly be a firearm,î Cpl. Jeff Hildebrandt said.Chinook's Edge's current lockdown procedure was researched and developed by Lonsberry about four years ago. He said the division's schools train for two types of lockdowns: internal and external. The lockdowns cover ìanything that is foreseeable.îAn external lockdown is an administrative lockdown used in events of a wild animal on school grounds. In those instances just the external doors to the school are locked.An internal lockdown is initiated if there is a direct threat to the school, Lonsberry explained. In an internal lockdown all school doors are locked and classrooms are secured. The lights are then shut off and the students are put into an obscure corner of the room far away from the doors and windows.ìWhen the tactical team goes in to recover them and evacuate them from the school, they only have to spend minimum time there to get that group out,î said Lonsberry.Other division schools were contacted following the Sept. 12 lockdown to ensure that procedures are reviewed and amendments are made as necessary, Lonsberry said.ìIn fact, I'm going to be meeting with the principals of the schools to get the communications plan toned up,î he said.Lonsberry said he recommends schools conduct two drills a year ñ one that is announced to give students and staff time to prepare, and one that is spur of the moment. To ensure that students are not alarmed, the spur of the moment practice is sometimes announced in such a way that staff know a lockdown is coming but do not have time to study the scenario.ìYou'll announce it and go into the drill immediately.î
