Written by Ashlynn Leka |

At the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, the administration of the Clinton Public Schools and The Morgan School’s new student resource officer introduced a new safety procedure for lockdown drills and evacuation drills (fire drills).

New SRO Officer Mangs said, “the administration and I both agree that when it comes to procedures, simplicity is key in execution. Additionally, practicing these procedures will be the only way to ensure they work properly. We live in a different world than we used to, and proactivity is essential to school safety”

The Morgan School administration has decided to frost over the windows in each classroom. That way, if there was an intruder in the building, the intruder would not be able to see students hiding in the classrooms from the hallway windows. The administration and Officer Mangs also introduced a new procedure called ” Run, Hide, Fight”.

For evacuation (fire) drills, there is a new procedure that should make exiting the building in case of a fire more efficient and “age appropriate to students in the high school setting.”  Everyone will exit through the back of the school and meet on the soccer field where the students report to their advisory teachers. Teachers will line up in alphabetical order and use their red to-go bags that include name signs and an advisory attendance list to verify that every student exits the building safely.

SRO Officer Mangs said, “These new/revised safety procedures have been implemented because they are simple and less confusing ways to stay safe while in school. Although the likelihood of something like an active shooter event happening at Morgan is small, it still remains a real possibility – no matter how improbable. I would rather all students and staff members be more adequately prepared for all situations. My first obligation to this school is to keep everyone as safe as possible.” “

The administration and Officer Mangs worked well together to develop these new safety procedures.