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Bayside student recounts internal lockdown, urges more substitute and staff emergency training
Summary
A Bayside High School student described an internal lockdown, saying substitute teachers were sometimes unprepared and urging more lockdown drills and substitute training; he asked the board to increase lockdown drills beyond the current four per year required by the division.
Carter Babington, a Health Sciences Academy student at Bayside High School, told the school board on March 20 that an internal lockdown at his school the previous Wednesday lasted roughly 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., and that while his teacher handled the event well, substitute teachers often lacked training on lockdown procedures.
Babington described classroom steps taken during the incident—securing windows, covering the door and moving students to corners—then said police entered the classroom with guns drawn, identified individuals, searched bags and patted students down. He said some teachers and substitutes at Bayside “didn't understand the procedure of an internal lockdown” and in some cases allowed students to leave during a lockdown or were corrected by students. He told the board that in his view substitutes “receive little to no training on these emergency procedures.”
Babington noted Virginia Beach schools require 13 fire drills but only four lockdown drills in a school year and asked the board to consider increasing the number of lockdown drills so students and staff are better prepared. He also asked for intensified training for substitutes so they understand emergency response plans.
He told the board he was “very impressed with how the students and staff handled the lockdown” at Bayside, but said his goal was to advocate so future preparedness improves.
