By Sameeha Jilani
Theme Editor
Mira Costa’s current training program for teachers in the case of an intruder on campus addresses basic issues; however, there are obvious gaps and flaws that Costa must address before the program can be considered completely successful.
Costa’s current teacher training program consists of monthly emergency drills that the school conducts. According to Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews, the expectation for teachers when there is an intruder on campus is to lock and barricade the door and supervise students. The handling of an intruder will be left to the Manhattan Beach Police Department.
One of the most prominent flaws in the current program is the actual communication between classrooms during lockdown drills. According to Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale, in Costa’s first lockdown drill of the year on Sept. 12, which was geared toward helping teachers and students in the new math and science building adjust to proper lockdown procedures, many teachers simply ignored both the drill and the red cards in other classrooms, which, in the event of a lockdown, indicate an injured student.
Although the drill was successfully repeated the next day, a full mock-up drill, with support form the Manhattan Beach Police Department and a Special Weapons and Tactics team, would be the best way to ensure school-wide participation in emergency drills, as is proven by the highly effective full mock-up drill conducted at the end of the year last year. This would only bolster the effectiveness of Costa’s training programs and communication during intruder based drills.
Additionally, utilizing the expertise of the MBPD and SWAT in an assembly regarding intruders would be largely beneficial to all members on Costa’s campus. An assembly of the sorts would give a deeper understanding of what actions should be taken in an emergency and also could educate the school on the tendencies of the average intruder.
Another issue with the current teacher-training program is that the school has only one format for its lockdown drills. This means that although there are countless scenarios for a school emergency in the case of an intruder, there is only one designated response to all of them. To solve this issue, the Costa administration should, at the very least, create alternate adaptations of the current master lockdown drill that will provide teachers and students with a blueprint for how to respond to differing threats on campus. These situations include instances in which the intruder is in the new math and science building or there are multiple intruders.
According to Dale, an emergency situation during a break is a possibility, but the administration has never held a drill or even formally explained what steps students and teachers should take in that situation.
The current teacher-training program for emergency situations is able to cover the basics of maintaining safety but needs alternate solutions to additional real-life scenarios.
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