SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Public Schools (SPS) takes the safety of your children very seriously, and they have protocols that they follow whenever there is a threat to campus safety.
As you may expect, whenever a full lockdown is called, teachers will close their blinds, and doors all across campus will be closed and locked. But you may not know what all is happening behind the scenes.
One of the first things that happens whenever there is a threat on or around campus is that the school will contact law enforcement if it is immediately apparent that they will need them.
The campus safety officer will meet with authoritative figures at the school (Principals, VPs, etc.). They do so to make an immediate, initial decision on what needs to be done to protect the students.
SPS says they will always lean towards the side of caution when making this decision because it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Once that initial conversation takes place, they will get in contact with the director of campus safety for the district and discuss next steps.
Sometimes that means sending a message to students and parents, sometimes that means shutting down the school into a complete lockdown until the threat is removed.
Campus safety officer Aaron Woods says by building relationships with the kids at your school, hopefully, you can stop the problem before it escalates.
“By having those relationships, when situations arise,” said Woods. “It could be a fight between students, a lot of times we are in a position where kids can come to us before that situation escalates and takes it to the next level.”
Woods wants the public to know that if a situation arises, SPS will always work very quickly to control what’s going on.
Other facts: There is also a “secure and teach” mode that schools can use if appropriate. In this mode, doors are locked, but teachers are still teaching their classes.
There are approximately 2,200 cameras monitoring SPS district facilities. Many have 360-degree vision.
