How B.C. schools use lockdown drills to prepare for outside threats

The deadly mass shooting at a Texas elementary school last week has shone a spotlight on how schools prepare students and staff for outside threats.

In Surrey, all elementary and secondary schools hold twice-yearly lockdown drills that follow the rule of “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight.”

The teacher is trained to close exterior shutters to completely cover the outside windows, lock the door to the classroom, and turn out the lights. Students are directed to hunker down in a part of the classroom that’s not visible through windows beside or in the entry door.

Surrey safe schools director Rob Rai says the goal is to make that classroom look empty to anyone in the hallway.

“We teach the kids if there is a threat and you’re not in your classroom, you can get behind a locked door in a storage room or get into the office or otherwise. What you want to make sure is if there is a threat, you’re out of sight in the school, that you are not visible to this threat,” said Rai.

North Vancouver safe schools principal Jeremy Church says his district holds similar drills once a year. “In conversations with the RCMP, we know that whatever is happening, they are on their way to come to the school. So we are very much around being able to buy ourselves some time and be out sight, out of the hallways, and in our classes.”

Church says the district has to strike a balance to ensure students and staff are ready for the worst case scenario, but aren’t afraid to come to school.

“There are some really dark and scary things we want to prepare for, but really that’s not our reality here. Our reality is our schools are safe, but we have to practice it all the same,” said Church.

Unlike the U.S., most British Columbia schools keep at least one exterior door unlocked, and there is no plan to change that.

“In any instance where there is someone in the building who we don’t recognize, adult or otherwise, all of our staff are encouraged to make contact with them and say can I help you? Are you looking for something?” said Church.

“We try to be very strategic and minimize the opportunities for outsiders to come into our buildings, but at the same time we are trying to keep it as a place of learning and where kids feel comfortable and safe and secure to move around in,” said Rai.

While he’s heartbroken over the tragedy in Uvalde, he added “I am so incredibly grateful every single day that we live in a country where guns are not as pervasive an issue as they are in the south.”