The Wittenberg-Birnamwood School Board learned Jan. 29 that steps are being taken to make safety training more effective in the schools.
The district is working to add more speakers and strobe lights to some areas where noise might prevent people from hearing that a fire drill is in effect — noting that the agriculture building, which is separate from the main portion of Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School, and other places did not evacuate the school during recent safety drills.
WBHS Principal Megan Rothmeyer reported that her school’s intruder drill, which took place in November, involved a short video explaining procedures in the event that a shooter or someone else intending harm entered the school.
“There were discussions in the classrooms,” Rothmeyer said. “We don’t actually simulate an active shooter. It’s discussion based, and we talk about what we do.”
The drill also involved having Deputy Nathan Thornborrow, school resource officer, come in and talk about school reaction protocols, Rothmeyer said. The students discussed the issues and felt it was important to be reminded annually about what to do.
One thing to be improved upon for the school year is that the video did not include a translation for Spanish-speaking students, and Rothmeyer said she planned to make sure that was available.
“There were two students that needed it translated,” she said. “I did not think about that.”
Board member Rich Olson questioned why the drill was now a video instead of actually enacting the protocols, to which Superintendent Garrett Rogowski felt discussion was a better teaching tool than rehearsal.
“We got away from that because, especially at the pre-K level, it wasn’t developmentally appropriate,” Rogowski said. He noted that the schools hadn’t conducted a live intruder drill since before the pandemic. “This is about teaching versus fear. At the high school, there are now some very good videos that generate collaborative discussion.”
Rothmeyer noted that the high school does live drills with staff members, but not when students are at school.
Chris Kulas, principal of Birnamwood Elementary-Middle School, noted that his school used an activity book to teach students in kindergarten through fifth grade about proper procedures in the event of an intruder in mid-January. He said that a live drill was done with staff at his school, too, and middle school students learned about the protocols during their specialty classes like physical education and music.
“We tested the alarms (during the summer) to see if the staff could hear the alarms and for the office staff to learn how to use the alarms,” Kulas said. “We have posters in the classrooms that show the terminology we use.”
Nick Firari, principal of Wittenberg Elementary-Middle School, told the board his school’s safety training also took place in mid-January, and the training was similar to what took place in Birnamwood.
“We were practicing where they would go in case of an intruder within their classroom and also had discussions about where they would go if they were able to get out of the building,” Firari said. “Not physical sites, but just where they would go and how they would stay together.”
Thornborrow also spoke to students at the elementary-middle schools, according to Kulas and Firari.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Categories
