Student safety top-of-mind as Johnston schools investigate threat

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

In the wake of a national mass shooting tragedy, violent messages sent to Johnston school district families are not connected to an imminent threat, Johnston police said in a statewide press conference Tuesday.

Such incidents in Iowa and nationally have influenced how the Charles City School District prepares for such a crisis, Superintendent Dan Cox told the Press.

The threats texted to Johnston parents and students were less than 24 hours after the Las Vegas shooting at a country music festival. The anonymous messages prompted Johnston Superintendent Corey Lunn to cancel all classes and extra-curricular activities Tuesday.

Classes are scheduled to resume as normal on Wednesday for the district’s 7,200 students and 1,000 employees. The Johnston incident is still under investigation.

Charles City’s Cox said, “We’ve gone from the shelter-in-place philosophy to a run-hide-fight philosophy. You see that evolve across the country.”

While tornado shelters and fire escapes are clearly marked in school buildings, the district does not publicly publish protocol for instances of an active threat, Cox said. Instructions for students would come from district staff members and intercom announcements, if available.

“You have to be really aware of what’s appropriate for each age level” when discussing active threat protocol with students, Cox said.

District staff members last received active threat training two years ago, and the district is considering bringing outside instructors back this year.

The Charles City school district had a chance to build a facility with “run-hide-fight” in mind during the construction of the Charles City Middle School, which opened in August 2016.

Iowa Reps. Jim Carlin, R-Sioux City, and Stan Gustafson, R-Cumming, visited the facility in April 2017 as part of a state tour to see what school districts can do to protect from active threats.

At that time, the representatives saw how Charles City’s newest school handles lockdowns from wing-to-wing to slow an active threat from progressing, and how the district limits building access to staff members with specially coded key fobs.

Now as the district undergoes the design process for a high school renovation or rebuild, safety will remain part of the discussion, Cox said.

“It will be an intentional piece of that design,” he said. “We’ll be cognizant of how spaces relate to one another and what types of features we can incorporate.”

“Every superintendent and every building principal takes this seriously,” Cox said. “We all want to make sure students and staff have a safe environment to teach and learn.”