Charleston's Independent School Directory 2018-19

www.CharlestonsPrivateSchools.com | www.CharlestonSchoolDirectory.com | www.ed.sc.gov ISD INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS School Safety A Look into Lowcountry Schools’ Plans for Protection “ T oday we practiced how to hide from a dangerous person.” That was the nonchalant comment made by our 5-year-old daughter while enjoying a quiet family dinner one night, recounting our day to one another, most likely over chicken parmigiana. It hit me like a ton of rocks. “You mean you did a fire drill?” “No. If a bad guy comes, we hide in the bathroom.” My husband and I locked eyes across the table as I bit my lip to keep from crying. Our daughter was only a month or so into her kindergarten year, and the thought that she was learning “active-shooter protocols” broke my heart. … and yet, I knew it was necessary. We discussed it a little more for her sake and went back to our dinner. That was that – at least for the next few months. About four months later, while having lunch with a client and colleague, I received a prerecorded phone call from our daughter’s school informing me of the now-settled situation that had just taken place on school grounds. An unidentified man had breached the school, resulting in an emergency code being issued until the situation was resolved. As it turns out, it was simply a parent who hadn’t signed in through the normal protocols, and the school officers handled it swiftly. And, yet, I sat there and cried anyway, feeling helpless. As parents, the worst feeling in the world is the unknown dangers for our children, and sending them away for a large portion of the day only compounds the “what ifs” of everyday occurrences. And at the time of writing this, with over 22 school shootings in 2018 alone in the United States, the actual threat of a dangerous person or active-shooter situation is more plausible than By Krysta Chapman ever before. So what do we do? Fortunately, here in the Lowcountry, we have a phenomenal school district working overtime to learn from the tragic events unfolding around the country. Speaking with Michael Reidenbach, director of security and emergency management for the Charleston County School District, and Andy Pruitt, director of communications and technology at CCSD, I was walked through a variety of measures being taken, as well as tips for parents ready to learn and do more on the home front. “Defense in Depth” Taking an encompassing approach to school-grounds safety, CCSD looks at a number of factors for keeping the students safe. For them, physical security means looking at the design and layout of the school to ensure “various layers of security,” Reidenbach explained. This includes monitors, sensors, locks, security vestibules prior to entering offices, cameras in the hallways and vigilant staff members who have been trained to identify and react to situations. “Regardless of which situation it is, we want our staff members to have already thought about and walked through the processes at least one time prior to confronting it in the moment. It’s really important, in any of these situations, to not let it consume us; emergency preparedness allows us to be prepared for anything that can come our way,” he said. To his point, this happens with both initial training and continuous education. Unfortunately, some of the best insights come after senseless events elsewhere. “We take the facts from other situations and test our action plans against those same threats to see if any gaps are identified. We’re continuously asking, ‘What can we do