Iowa school's active-shooter test scares some students, provokes call to 911

An active-shooter alarm sounded with no advance warning for a group of Spirit Lake Community School District students and staff earlier this week, leading them to believe they were in danger from a real shooter and prompting one to call 911.

Staff members and sixth-grade students were in the school district's Sami Bedell Center for the Performing Arts Wednesday after school when the Siemens group — who are contracted to update the district's security system — set off the system's active shooter alert alarm as part of a test, school officials said in an email to the Des Moines Register.

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The high school principal announced the test, but the message did not reach those in the auditorium, which is attached to the high school, because the center's sound system is designed to limit interruptions, school officials said. The system does allow alerts and alarms to sound.

"We have been waiting for a long time for this component to be installed," officials said. "The Siemen group had been in the district most of the day doing the install of the new component and it was tested. It was not an active shooter drill."

Spirit Lake Community School District is one of at least two Iowa districts whose school boards approved arming staff members as part of their school safety plans. Iowa code 724.4B allows school districts to arm staff.

Officials declined to say if any armed employees were present in the auditorium.

Everyone followed the district's active shooter training, including a student who called 911, officials said. But because the test was not an active shooter drill, local law enforcement was not notified ahead of time the situation wasn't real.

Spirit Lake's school resource officer "pulled into our high school parking lot 5 minutes after the test alarm sounded," officials told the Register.

"With the information available to the students and staff in the Sami Center, this was exactly what the student should do," district officials said. "Our students and staff responded incredibly quickly, responsibly, and in direct alignment with our district training."

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District officials sent a message to families explaining what happened.

"The software company initiated the active shooter alarm to test out the message to understand which rooms could hear the alarm," the statement said. "Unfortunately, we understand that the broadcasted announcement of the active shooter test didn't reach everyone in the district."

Officials apologized to families for the confusion.

Administrators met with sixth-grade students and staff who were in the auditorium, officials told the Register.

"Counselors and administration were available — and will continue to be available — to support any student or staff who need assistance in dealing with this situation," officials said.

There is now a short-term solution for communication throughout the district and officials are working on a long-term fix to add to the district's safety and emergency response plan. The details of the fix were not included in the district's response to the Register.

"The district took away many things from this test and circumstances that are allowing us to find areas of concern and solutions for entire district safety," officials said.

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Read the letter to families:

Families,

I hope this email finds you well. We wanted to touch base with you regarding a situation that occurred in our district this afternoon. We had the software company on site that installs alarms for our district as we continue to make improvements to our alarm system. The software company initiated the active shooter alarm to testout the message to understand which rooms could hear the alarm.

Unfortunately, we understand that the broadcasted announcement of the active shooter test didn't reach everyone in the district. We apologize for the confusion this may have caused and want to assure you that we are taking steps to prevent this from happening again in the future.

We understand that drills like this can be stressful and overwhelming, and we want to make sure that everyone feels safe and informed during these situations. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this situation.

If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to building administrators. We are here to support you and answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership with our district.

Building Administrators

Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Spirit Lake High School active shooter alarm scares staff, students