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Planned code red drill takes on new significance
By Alex Zhai & Benjamin Fu
Gargoyle assistant editor & staff reporter
Posted Thursday, April 26, 2007, The OG, news
FOR SEVERAL MONTHS now, Assistant Director Sue Kovacs has let it be known that a code red drill will take place later this year at an unannounced time.
Before the Virginia Tech massacre last week, students seemed to view the drill with indifference. In light of the shooting, however, the drill has taken on a greater significance.
- Description: A “code red” is defined as an out-of-control incident that is in progress, such as a fight, an intruder, or a weapon in school that has not been located.
- The signal: A 30-second buzzer.
- What to do: Students already in class will be locked into classrooms. First-floor students not in a class will move, if safe, to the lounge, 2nd-floor students to the library, and 3rd- & 4th-floor students to the PC lab.
“[The Virginia Tech incident] works as awareness,” says Kovacs. “It's a terrible way to gain an awareness.”
With previous code red drills, Kovacs received complaints that the drills scared some students. Now, parents are asking her how to make their children safer.
In a code red situation, several factors make Uni a less than ideal school. In addition to being open to the public, the windowed wooden doors to many classrooms offer poor protection. Students roam free during free periods, making it difficult to keep track of everyone in an emergency.
“It's really hard to lock down Uni,” says senior Benjamin Schaap.
Perhaps it is precisely the lack of other protective measures that makes the code red drill important here at Uni.
“We will reduce the risk as much as we can,” says Kovacs, who recognizes that many variables in a real emergency are out of the school's control.
No one can guarantee the safety of every student, but according to Kovacs, the drill is necessary to “take as much guesswork out of it as possible.”
As evidence of the efficacy of drill procedures, Kovacs points to fire drills.
In 1958, the Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago killed 95 and injured 100 people.
The state of Illinois soon made it mandatory for schools to conduct fire drills, including one with the participation of the local fire department. Since then, no school in Illinois has had student deaths from fires, according to Kovacs.
With such a high success rate for fire drills, having code red drills might also have a significant effect on the safety of students. And while fortunately Uni has never had a real-life code red situation, it's better to be prepared for those events that used to be considered unthinkable.
Says Kovacs, “Practice makes perfect.”
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— Gargoyle column: Reflections on Blacksburg and Virginia Tech
— Gargoyle coverage: School safety update: Code red drill coming up soon
— Gargoyle coverage: The Virginia Tech shootings: Why we need code red drills
— Gargoyle coverage: School safety: Code red drill anticipated for this semester
— Uni Student Handbook: Code red procedures
— Uni Student Handbook: Complete text
