By Kristie Linden, Staff writer                                                     
October 23, 2002

In light of recent sniper attacks throughout the Washington, D.C., area, the phrase "school lock down" is heard a lot more often in the news. But, for local public and parochial schools the concept of locking down for safety is not exclusive to times of such extreme danger.

Riverview School District, for example, locks down in the event of all kinds of emergencies. The kids practice lock downs just like they practice fire drills.

Real situations that would initiate a lock down mainly include dangerous circumstances physically close to the building.

If an uninvited guest was to enter the building, the district would institute a lockdown to keep kids from running into the person in the halls.

If the district or local police department determine there is a situation in which the kids would be placed in danger by leaving the building, there would be a lockdown.

"The goal is to not have vulnerable teachers and kids emptying onto school grounds," says Dr. Charles Erdeljac, superintendent.

Essentially, a lockdown means that all classroom doors are locked, no one is permitted to leave the classroom and if it becomes necessary, students can be moved to a less visible space or behind shelters already in the classroom.

Not far from Tenth Street Elementary in Oakmont is Redeemer Lutheran School.

The two buildings might not fall under the same district, but the administrators have agreed to help each other out in times of crisis.

If a situation arose at Redeemer in which the safest solution was to remove the kids from the building, the students would be moved to Tenth Street, and vice versa.

Gail Holzer, Redeemer principal, and Gary Winkler, Tenth Street principal, made an agreement to help each other during borough meetings to establish emergency plans for Oakmont.

If there is a situation that causes Redeemer to evacuate its children from the borough, Oakmont's emergency busing plan includes the students and they would be taken to Plum School District.

Riverview has a reciprocal agreement with Plum and all schools in the Twin Boros have similar action plans.

Holzer says if a situation - like the sniper attacks - were to arise in this area, she and Redeemer's teachers are well prepared to keep the kids occupied throughout a long-term lockdown.

"We're blessed with a big fellowship hall and a full basement with high ceilings. If we were stuck inside for a lock down, we would probably do the same types of things we do on rainy days."

At Redeemer, locking down is simple because the small building doesn't have too many exterior entrances to worry about.

Holzer says if something dangerous were to happen in Oakmont, she would simply take the lead from the police department.

She's attended all of the emergency management team meetings so she stays abreast of new plans and keeps Redeemer School firmly in the loop.

"They give us direction and we follow it."

Erdeljac agrees, saying Riverview - and neighboring schools - is lucky to have two police departments within the two square miles of the district to react to emergencies.

Current renovations to Tenth Street and Verner elementary schools include new safety measures.

"The architect has taken into account the kinds of security measures and security systems that would help us in such situations," says Erdeljac.