Hold! Secure! Lockdown! Evacuate!
These are the four core drills that Spring Lake Public Schools students practiced during its recent “Safety Week.” The district started a new system of safety drills, called Standard Response Protocol, which was mandated throughout all Michigan schools by the Michigan State Police.
The school’s response is based on any given situation, not individual scenarios.
High School Assistant Principal, Tony Bush, was a main leader throughout organizing and implementing this new system district-wide. “The ideas aren’t new, there is just a bigger classification,” he said.
Bush gave the example of the drill, “Hold.” He explained it is used for any scenario where students and faculty have to keep all hallways clear. The main reason is for a medical emergency, but being prepared for any number of threats is important. When an emergency happens, it’s important to not panic.
“We do what we practice,” Bush said, “You don’t think about it, it’s just muscle memory.”
The second week of September was “Safety Week” for the Spring Lake district, where each day the students learned a new drill. High School Principal Ben Armey came over the intercom explaining what to do, why this would be needed, and then instructed the students and faculty to practice it. This way the students knew what to do if a real emergency were to happen.
While students participated in a daily drill, a lot more has been going on behind the scenes – and throughout the summer. Bush explained that the district created what is called a Medical Emergency Response Team, called MERT. The faculty had drills with mannequin, AEDs, and other equipment that they had to complete in a certain amount of time in order to pass. Spring Lake High School passed qualifications and is now considered a Heart Safe School by the State of Michigan.
“It is very exciting,” Bush said, “and there is still a lot of ongoing training happening to ensure our students are safe.”
Bush also stated that the Standard Response Protocol is “very scripted and repetitive,” but he explained that it is necessary in order to not only know what to do in the moment, but also what to do after.
Each faculty member is assigned a role to play not only during the emergency, but also after. In this case, one group might be making sure all the students are accounted for, while another group is communicating with parents and making sure every student is released to the right person. There are other countless rolls that make sure the process runs smoothly.
“It’s Murphy’s Law,” Bush explained. “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong and we need to be ready for anything.”
