November 14 by Carol Britton Meyer
The Hingham Public Schools district has a "robust emergency management plan" in place to help ensure the safety and security of all of its students, teachers, and staff, according to Supt. of Schools Paul Austin.
"The plan was developed by representatives of the School Department as well as public [safety] respondors," he told the Hingham Anchor recently.
The "Hingham Public Schools Emergency Response Procedures" provide guidance to school personnel in the event of emergencies that could occur in school or on school grounds, addressing a wide variety of potential scenarios.
"School personnel are provided with training each year on emergency procedures such as evacuations, fire safety, threats, and acts of violence," Austin said. "Each school has an emergency response team that serves to review such things as school safety plans and training efforts."
Training is scheduled annually at all the schools to review lockdown procedures and to hold active lockdown drills with faculty and staff. "Students review lockdown procedures that are modified as appropriate for age and grade," Austin said. "Our schools also work collaboratively with first respondors to conduct regular fire drills in real-life scenarios."
District response team
In addition to the school emergency response teams, there's a district response team that meets regularly and consists of teacher and administrator representatives, central office members (including the superintendent and the director of finance, transportation, and facilities), the fire and police chiefs, and school resource officers.
"Hingham Public Schools take safety very seriously, and it is my top priority to ensure that all of our students, staff, and facilities are safe and secure," Austin said.
Director of finance, transportation, and facilities John Ferris weighed into the subject of school security. "For many years (before my time with HPS) Hingham has had a multi-hazard protocol manual. Last year a new version was completed and implemented in all the schools after it was updated by the town's Program Security Committee," Ferris said. Its members include school administrators and staff, principals, maintenance and transportation staff, representative from the police and fire departments, and an experienced community member.
This committee meets monthly to discuss a myriad of evolving topics, address new issues, debrief following security and safety events, and chart a course for security enhancements within the schools as well as the town. "Through these efforts we have become a coordinated unit that communicates well and can be responsive to each of our respective departments in the event of emergencies," Ferris said. "These efforts also help us prioritize the projects we will seek funding for and actually implement."
The efforts of the Program Security Committee are continuous. "We may take two months off in the summer due to vacations (that’s when projects are getting done), but we start back up in September," Ferris said. "The discussions are rich and thoughtful. We also update the administrative manual for security procedures and protocols so that appropriate administrative actions relative to specific events are documented and can be used in the future by new administrators."
Projects that are underway relate to vestibules, door locks, and supplies. Further details are not available, Ferris said, due to the sensitive nature of some of the security measures taken by the HPS.
Hingham High School
Last year HHS established a new "Hingham High School Security Team" that includes administrators, teachers, the school psychologist, both nurses, and the school resource officer. This group meets quarterly to review school security protocols.
"We review the protocols with all teachers and also regularly implement a variety of drills," said Principal Rick Swanson. "Last year, for the first time, we practiced the lock-down protocol during 'passing time' in-between periods."
The subject of school security was discussed at great length last January during a public forum hosted by the Middle School, Swanson recalled. "All principals attended, as did the superintendent, assistant superintendent, police and fire chiefs, and school resource officers," Swanson said. The two-hour forum was moderated by a community volunteer and recorded by Hingham Community Access Media.
Last summer Hingham was awarded a $56,980 state grant for security enhancements in its public schools, which came as good news to school administrators and others involved in the effort to help ensure that our schoolchildren are safe.
"I’m very pleased with the award for new door-locking hardware that will enhance security and safety within our buildings," Ferris, who was involved with the grant process, said at that time. "This new hardware will simplify door locking, in a code-compliant manner, in the event of a real threat to our students and staff at the High School, Middle School and South Elementary School."
East School
East School implemented its Stay in Place protocol Nov. 4 when school officials were notified by the Hingham Police about a potential safety concern in one of the neighborhoods near East School. "Although there was no immediate threat to the school, we did decide to call for a Stay In Place out of an abundance of caution until we had further information," Principal Tony Keady wrote in an email to parents. "In these situations, students stay in their classrooms and we continue to follow a normal schedule but limit movement within the building until we get additional information. Furthermore, we do not allow students to go outside for recess."
Shortly after the Stay In Place was called, school officials received updated information from the Hingham Police clarifying that the situation was in a neighboring town and not in the proximity of East School. "At that time, we did lift the Stay In Place and resumed our normal schedule," Keady said.