Most students are unaware of the procedures taken involving secure status and how it is different from lockdown. The confusion about secure status is high, and with that confusion, students start asking questions and some are not able to answer those questions themselves.
One of the many things people think about secure status is that it is just like lockdown, but they are not the same. The crisis management plan given to faculty and staff members defines secure status as a procedure that prevents unauthorized persons from entering the school. It is commonly used when the threat is towards the general public and not the school itself. During secure status, school activities continue as normal. Lockdown, however, is a procedure that is used when there is an immediate threat to the school, such as a school intruder. Lockdown minimizes access to the school, and it secures staff and students in their classrooms where they must remain until the situation has been declared safe by an authority.
“Secure [status] is just if there’s something going on in the community, like if there is a robbery going on, while lockdown is if someone is actually in the building,” said assistant principal Josh Smith. “We’ll lock all our exterior doors, and everything in the building continues as normal.”
It is important for Rolla High School to be as safe as possible, and the RHS administration and faculty make sure to take precautions for the safety of all the students including A+ and RTI students.
“We’ll make the decision…whether we go to RTI, whether we don’t go, whether A+ tutors go. It really depends on how close the threat is,” said Smith.
On Tuesday October 6, there was an interstate police chase going though Phelps County that eventually went through Rolla. The school had to lock the doors, just to remain safe.
“The other day, there were a few suspects on the loose, and there was one that hadn’t been found. It really wasn’t close to the school, but we went into secure status just to be safe,” Smith commented.
No matter what the situation is, it is going to come out of the blue. That’s why the school makes students do the drills and procedures so that the students and faculty are prepared. While there isn’t anything in the student handbook about secure status, the most timely information for students and families will come through district communications as a situation occurs.