Not a drill: After a student brought an air soft gun to school, Oshkosh educators talk safety
OSHKOSH – Just a few days after a shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville where a shooter killed six people, the Oshkosh police and school district learned of an incident at Oshkosh West High School where a student was showing off a gun.
On the morning of March 31, students told school staff a student was showing a weapon to other students in the school's parking lot, according to Oshkosh police.
Staff notified law enforcement, who then located the student and found the weapon in the student's car. Police found the gun, which they later described as an "air soft facsimile weapon," and the scene was eventually cleared.
During the investigation, the school's safety protocols kept students in their classrooms.
As scary as a situation like that can be, Oshkosh district officials say responses to these incidents demonstrate their focus on maintaining student safety.
The district and other organizations regularly have conversations to update safety plans so that, should the worst happen, staff are prepared and able to be more clear-headed in an emergency. It's one of the ways the district hopes to balance the fears of catastrophic events while ensuring students are in a safe learning environment.
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Schools, police and hospitals part of group that shapes emergency responses
Sarah Poquette, principal of Perry Tipler Middle School, said after years of teaching, wondering how she can keep students safe "never shuts off."
That drive is part of why Poquette chairs the Emergency Preparedness Collaborative Operations Team (EPCOT), a partnership between the school district and local law enforcement like the Oshkosh Police Department and Winnebago County Sheriff's Office that works to address school safety issues and create emergency response plans.
Poquette said while it started with just the Oshkosh school district, private schools like Lourdes Academy and Valley Christian School have joined in as well as the School District of Omro. Representatives from other organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of Oshkosh, Kobussen Buses and Aurora Hospitals are also part of EPCOT.
Poquette said the group generally meets monthly and discusses safety trends that could be concerning or upcoming drills.
During one of these meetings, Poquette said law enforcement warned of a string of fake active shooter reports in October that affected at least 14 schools statewide, including South Park Middle School in Oshkosh. Poquette said with that knowledge from law enforcement, it allowed the district to check if information about these threats was reliable.
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Along with sharing information, Poquette said the group works on "table top activities," where the members go over emergency scenarios and figure out a response plan.
Simple things like getting a standard verbiage for emergency responses helps, Poquette said. For example, defining the difference between what it means when schools go on "hold," go "secure" or go on "lockdown" makes it easier to communicate the required response during an emergency.
The scenarios range from minor accidents like a student dislocating a shoulder during recess to talking through an emergency like an active shooter. Poquette said this creates cohesive understanding and provides set roles for every group involved.
"In an emergency, that’s not the time to figure out who is in charge," Poquette said. "You want to have familiarity with who is coming in and their role so we can work quicker and stronger together."
New school buildings are being designed for safety
As the Oshkosh Area School District is constructing new facilities, superintendent Bryan Davis said safety is literally built into the new designs.
In the design of Vel Phillips Middle School and Menominee Elementary School, for example, Davis said there are two key things that have become standard safety protocol for the district. One is creating a controlled, main entrance so people entering the building have to check in. The second is designing the school so it can be "sectioned off" to close off parts of the school in case of an emergency.
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Davis said many of those design choices have been standard since 1999, shortly after the Columbine shooting started to affect school safety practices.
However, nearly three-quarters of Oshkosh schools were built before 1970, according to statistics from OASD.
As part of a 2020 school referendum, Katie Nieman, OASD communications director, said $8,990,000 was set aside for safety and security projects.
Those funds were used to construct secure entrances at five schools ― Emmeline Cook Elementary School, Franklin Elementary School, Lakeside Elementary School, South Park Middle School and Carl Traeger Elementary/Middle School ― in the summer of 2021. She said the district plans to complete secure entry projects at Oakwood Elementary School, Read Elementary and Oshkosh North and West High Schools this summer.
Safety is the district's top priority, but Davis said it is a balance to make sure the buildings are also a welcoming environment.
"We don’t want to be a fortress because we’re a school," Davis said.
Davis said designs for the newer buildings combine safety elements like putting in shatterproof glass and secure entrances that help prepare for potentially "catastrophic events" while also adding collaborative spaces and letting in natural light to create a conducive learning environment.
"It is always a delicate balance," he said.
Staff balance importance of drills with students' mental wellbeing
As district leaders develop safety plans, Poquette said it is crucial that staff and students are involved and able to follow all procedures.
She said at Tipler Middle School, there is a "safety day" at the start of the school year where staff and students go through drills and emergency scenarios.
Davis said training the district's safety protocols happens on an annual basis, including going over an active shooter response
Although these responses may seem new, Davis said schools have always had to tailor safety concerns with the times. Along with standard fire or tornado drills, schools would participate in drills against the threat of nuclear bombs during the Cold War.
"We happen to be in this era of active shootings in schools and public places we have to prepare for," he said.
While important, those kinds of drills can have a harmful effect, research suggests. A report by advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety found active shooter drills in schools correlated with a 42% increase in anxiety and stress and a 39% increase in depression among those in the school community based on social media posts.
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Matt Kaemmerer, OASD director of pupil services, said during any potentially traumatic event, the first priority is to ensure physical safety. Once everyone is safe, the district's pupil services uses a "psychological triage model" to give mental health support for students as soon as possible.
Kaemmerer said support can be in individual or group therapy sessions, and the district has started to use therapy dogs, which he said has significantly helped students.
Poquette said it's "heartbreaking" students have to practice safety procedures for active shooters, but she said that preparedness helps for other safety issues.
The state Department of Justice created a tipline ― Speak Up, Speak Out ― that allows students, parents or staff to anonymously submit a school safety concern or threat. Poquette said the district has posters and information about the line, which can be used to report anything from threatening activity to reporting worries about a peer who may have suicidal thoughts.
She thinks tools like that can empower students and staff awareness of emergency situations, much like the incident at West High School on March 31.
Poquette also understands when parents send the students off to school, they are trusting the employees that their children will come back home. She said that understanding "weighs heavy" on everyone in the district and makes them go above and beyond to protect their schools.
"We take a lot of pride in educating students and knowing the amount of trust parents put on us to keep their kids safe," Poquette said.
Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: How Oshkosh schools address safety concerns, create emergency plans
