School lockdowns work to keep students safe

MONROE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- School lockdowns are becoming a more common occurrence.

But when they happen here, parents and families have concerns about safety.

School lockdowns happen every day across the country. Sometimes they are caused by something as simple as a rumor and other times there is a real threat. Whatever the reason, the goal is the same, student safety.

Last week Belle-Shivers Middle School went into lockdown twice. The situations triggering those actions were different, but the goal was the same.

“Our biggest concern is student and staff safety we get any type of threat any type of incident that we feel like there could be a breach in safety concerns we want to go ahead and err on the side of caution and put the School in lockdown,” said Jeff Clay.

Schools go into lockdown when there is a chance that harm could come to the student body.

“Could be a bomb threat. It could be a threat from a student, like we had last week in Aberdeen, bring a gun to school or a knife that could hurt other children. Those are your major things anything that would cause someone to have bodily injuries or get hurt is the reason why they locked school campuses down,” said Sheriff Cecil Cantrell.

In these situations, students and teachers have to work together to remain safe and calm.

“Are there shades over the windows are everyone turning out the lights is there a second method of not just the lock on the door but maybe a wedge underneath the door and you know just keeping from other injury are the students hiding against the wall where you can’t see them is everyone being quiet,” said Scott Cantrell.

During a lockdown, no one is allowed in or out of the building. For parents not being able to get to their children can be stressful.

“I would tell them to remain calm to try to look at it from a very positive standpoint that the school’s doing everything they can possibly do to make sure that these kids are safe as can be,” said Sheriff Cantrell.

In these situations, social media can be a very useful tool for administrators. It allows them to keep parents and the public in the loop.

“We ended up sending out an alert to the parents of the middle school then we sent out an alert for an all clear,” said Clay.

No matter the reason for the lockdown the school is just looking to keep students safe.

“It’s a good thing to be over cautious than under cautious,” said Sheriff Cantrell.

Scott Cantrell says schools in Monroe County are always in what he calls a soft lockdown. Teachers keep their doors locked except during class changes adding some extra security to their classrooms.