Administration reviews DB school security
March 20, 2018
Although no school can guarantee the absolute safety of its students, Diamond Bar High School continues to focus on the security measures it sustains in light of the most recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
According to DBHS Assistant Principal David Hong, the school plans at least two lockdown drills per year, one of which will take place during brunch or lunch when the majority of students are outside of their classrooms. Several years ago, teachers also received active-shooter training.
“One [message] I would like to get [across] to the students is [that] when the lockdown bell rings, take it very seriously and get to shelter and listen to adults,” Hong said.
During a late start meeting in early March, staff members discussed how to handle a lockdown. Many have also begun shielding their classrooms from view with window covers and locking their doors during school hours. If an intruder does manage to infiltrate the campus, teachers and administration are prepared to react with immediacy.
“There are things that we can control and things that we can’t control. The things that we can control are we can ring that lockdown bell, and we can do that from several phones on campus,” Hong said. “In case it happens in one place, we can ring the bells from another place.”
The message passed to the school from the Department of Homeland Security instructed students, in the event of a situation involving an active shooter, to run, hide and, as a last resort, fight.
Working closely with DBHS, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department is also disposed to respond to a threat and arrive at the scene in a short amount of time.
“We’re very confident they’re going to respond very, very quickly if something does happen on campus,” Hong said. “If they hear gunshots they will go toward the gunfire and they will as quickly as possible neutralize the person who’s firing a weapon.”
Students themselves are often the most effective form of prevention, according to Hong.
Social media can accommodate a plethora of warning signs, and most threats that are discovered by administration are brought to attention by students who reported the posts. Hong urges Brahmas to embody the mentality that if they “see something, they need to say something.”
“I would want every student to know that if you decide, ‘oh, this doesn’t need to be taken seriously,’ and it really turns out to be something, you’re going to have to live with that for the rest of your life,” Hong said. “To keep our campus safe, we need you guys.”
Additionally, any student caught making a joke that could be perceived as a threat will face severe consequences—including suspension and possible expulsion—regardless of their original intentions.
