Lincolnview holds lockdown drill

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Safety and security were the watchwords during a lockdown drill held at Lincolnview Local Schools on Monday.

Van Wert County Sheriff Tom Riggenbach and approximately a dozen deputies went through the school building checking for unlocked doors and security issues while students and staff remained silent behind locked doors for more than an hour.

Lincolnview Superintendent Jeffery Snyder said that, while such drills can be a distraction to the educational process, they are, unfortunately, necessary with mass killings such as the Newtown, Conn., murder of 20 first-graders and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“Unfortunately, we have to recognize today that we have to look at safety and security, too, at the same time as educating kids,” the superintendent acknowledged. “As much as we’d like to do 100 percent teaching kids, we have to understand that, in the world we live in today, safety and security is a must.”

Sheriff Riggenbach also said the drill went well, and stressed the importance of educators and law enforcement working together to improve school security and maintain the safety of Van Wert County children.

“It is extremely important for both the school system and for the Sheriff’s Office working together to better understand what they are doing, and what we would run into, as far as security in the building, if we have to respond to something,” the sheriff said during a briefing following the drill.

Overall, the building staff and students seemed to take the drill seriously, and to maintain silence and security during the event, which began at approximately 8:30 Monday morning.

In addition to checking doors, deputies attempted to get teachers or students to open doors by knocking and announcing they were police officers. No one responded, but followed established district security procedures for lockdowns.

Snyder, who had a possible security issue arise when he was a high school principal in another district, said the incident taught him that fostering communication and maintaining security are important.
“Until you actually go through something like that, you always think you’re prepared,” the superintendent said. “What I learned a lot was about communicating … parents want to know, and, as a parent, I’d want to know.”

Both school administrators and sheriff’s deputies provided input following the lockdown drill, but all appeared pleased with results of the drill. Sheriff Riggenbach also made sure his deputies were familiar with the interior of the school and where various interior areas of the school were located if deputies had been outside the building.

Several security measures were discuss, including possible location of a command post for law enforcement officers responding to a real incident at the school.