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By Dr. Lindsey Hall, Superintendent
Morton Comm Unit 709
As we all know from our work as leaders in public
schools, every day brings unexpected happenings,
pleasant surprises, unusual circumstances and
problems to solve.
On May 21, Morton High School received a threat
of violence from a student. Upon assessment of that
threat by our school resource officer, the school was
placed on hard lock down. The district office and
administration
were
notified, and we were in
full implementation of
our
crisis
plan.
Thankfully, the situation
was brought to closure
within an hour and 15
minutes
from
the
discovery of the threat.
The student admitted to
communicating
the
threat, was arrested,
and some partial sense
of
normalcy
was
restored
to
the
remainder
of
the
educational
setting,
which included final
exams
for
our
underclassmen.
In hindsight and
upon reflection of this
incident, I learned
several things that I thought might be valuable to
share with others in terms of communicating both
during and after the event. No matter how prepared
one might be for a crisis or emergency situation, my
experiences have only reinforced the concept that
every instance can serve as a learning experience.
Here are my insights:
We knew that word would get out about our
lockdown via Twitter, email, Instagram, Facebook,
texting, etc. No matter how much we wanted to
believe our “no cell-phone policy” in classrooms
was enforced and effective, many of our students
not only had their phones with them, but the 4G
network
provides
for
fast
(that’s
an
understatement) and immediate connection to the
outside world. Facebook was the platform of
choice. (This also speaks to how many people
outside of our world are continually logged into
and updating social media.) The immediacy in
communicating our lockdown to parents, media
and others was astounding -- and required that
quick and accurate information be disseminated
by a school official. Because of the size of our
district, that school official is me.
Before traveling to Morton High
School, I consulted with my
secretary about notifying my board
members that there was an
emergency situation there. I have
four board members with children
at MHS so I personally and quickly
called those people. Others were
texted, per our protocol. The
message was simple: I told them
what I knew at the time, which
wasn’t much, and followed with the
assurance that we would follow up
with more information. Some
information is better than no
information.
Upon my arrival at the high
school, I received a briefing from
the administration and law
enforcement. The school had been
on lockdown for approximately 10
minutes. This was ample time for
outgoing communication to burn
up the network. Immediately, I composed a
message to parents telling them that a threat of
violence had been made, the school was on
lockdown, there was not an imminent threat of
violence, and that as updates became available,
those would be communicated to them. We
utilized our “phone blast” and “email blast” system
to accomplish this. I feel that a key piece of
information that I included in this initial
communication was this: “I respectfully request
that at this time you do not come to Morton High
School. You will not be allowed into the building.”
No parents showed up.
(Continued on page 14)
Opportunities and challenges
emerge from crisis situations
“The immediacy in
communicating our
lockdown to
parents, media
and others was
astounding -- and
required that quick
and accurate
information be disseminated by a
school official. Because of the size
of our district, that school official is
me.”
— Dr. Lindsey Hall, superintendent
at Morton Comm Unit 709
