KING 5 TV highlights District's safety practices

While acts of school violence have recently made national headlines, the Issaquah School District focuses on safety every day—whether by making sure each visitor signs in at school buildings or by training staff using high-tech emergency simulations.

Schools routinely stage fire, earthquake, and lockdown drills, during which staff and students practice the procedures they've been taught at the beginning of each school year. Last week, Issaquah Middle School (IMS) held a lockdown drill, and four Issaquah police officers made sure each class was in compliance: door locked, blinds closed, and students quiet.

Afterward, Principal Corrine DeRosa debriefed with the officers. She learned that officers had heard sounds from a few classrooms, so she and Assistant Principal Jason Morse talked to those students about the importance of complete silence.

"We know that if we can see or hear people, the intruder could as well," DeRosa said. "We take our drills very seriously. Every time we do a drill, we learn something new."

Just a few blocks away at Clark Elementary, Principal Sue McPeak recently helped her school survive an earthquake—at least she did on her computer. Using a web-based simulation, McPeak made decisions based on District training about where to situate students outside the building and how to direct emergency workers. Each answer was evaluated for safety and efficiency.

The simulation was created by Incident Tactics. The company uses satellite images and architectural blueprints of District schools to make the online simulations as realistic as possible. During the exercise, the user has to make decisions in a timed, pressure-filled environment. Sirens sound. Children scream. Phones ring. Police officers demand information.

Each principal in the District has taken the earthquake simulation, and they will soon take a dangerous-chemical-spill and armed-intruder simulation. Many, like McPeak, have gone through the exercise multiple times so the decision-making process becomes instinctual, and they have coached parents and staff through it, too.

"It's invaluable," McPeak said. "You're never going to be comfortable in a situation like this, but the more you can walk through it in a safe simulation, the better prepared you're going to be. And you can never be too prepared."

Schools need to be community places where students feel comfortable learning and playing, but they must also be safe and secure. Our schools continue to concentrate on this balance each day:

• Every visitor is required to sign in at the front office of any District building and obtain a name badge.
• The District Safety Committee, with one representative from each school building, meets regularly to review and discuss safety and emergency procedures.
• Staff members train to know District emergency procedures.
• From schoolwide walkie-talkies to Districtwide e-mail listservs and auto-dialers, communication systems are in place to connect people inside and outside of buildings.
• Through a grant from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, a professional company has "mapped" each high school so that emergency personnel can instantly see the building's layout and plan accordingly.
• Administrators work closely with local emergency agencies to form partnerships. A "resource officer"—a special-assignment police officer who works full time in schools—serves each of our high schools and their feeder schools. Police also use our school buildings to stage mock emergency drills during summers.
• In partnership with the Issaquah Schools Foundation/Communities in Schools of Issaquah, the Greater Issaquah Youth and Family Network, and other community agencies, the District has created middle- and high-school programs that focus on identifying and treating student depression and stress. Staff and students are trained to be aware of warning signs and symptoms.
• The District and every school have zero-tolerance policies for harassment and bullying.