Seneca drills for crisis
JACKSON TWP — The answer, "about 45 minutes," is fairly straightforward.
The question, "How long will it take for police to locate and resolve a hostage situation at the Seneca Valley School District secondary campus," is more complicated.
To arrive at the answer, law enforcement personnel from Jackson, Cranberry and Lancaster townships, Zelienople and Evans City, the Butler County Sheriff's office and the state police participated in the district's first critical response drill Tuesday morning.
Fire crews from Cranberry, Harmony and Zelienople, and emergency medical services from Cranberry and Harmony also took part.
A mock shooting/hostage situation involving the secondary campus, as well as administrators, teachers and staff from across the district, was staged to test the crisis response and procedures.
Seneca Valley has a multiple-hazard response plan, and a school shooter is the most serious of those hazards, said Jackson Township Police Chief Len Keller, explaining why this exercise was done.
Other educators and administrators from the county were invited to participate. County District Attorney Randa Clark and Pat Cannon, chief county detective, were there to observe.
Trooper Randall McPherson with the state police Beaver barracks said that in the wake of national school shooting tragedies "it is of the utmost importance to perform drills like this just to see where you stand."
About 10 a.m., an actor portraying an enraged non-custodial parent arrived in the Seneca Valley Middle School office. He was played by an undercover state police officer.
"We felt he was the best person to really challenge us," said Linda Andreassi, district spokeswoman.
At 10:07 a.m., a campus lockdown was instituted by principal Sean McCarty just before the perpetrator moved down the hallway, "shooting" a school safety officer and a bystander.
The parent then entered a classroom and took its occupants — about 20 administrators and other staff volunteers posing as students and a teacher — hostage before fatally shooting the teacher and wounding two students.
No actual students participated in the drill.
Though the drill was scheduled, some of the other activities planned for the day were not relocated, Andreassi said. Coaches and directors were told the drill would occur.
Students participating in other school activities were moved elsewhere on campus.
At 10:12 a.m., a team of police officers carrying a shield and simulated weapons crept into the building, unsure of the hostages' location. Dispatchers called for the closure of roads surrounding the campus.
Meanwhile, district administrators set up a command center in the intermediate high school cafeteria to communicate with those inside.
At 10:20 a.m., a second search team with a K-9 dog unit arrived to search for victims and weapons. About another 10 minutes passed before EMS crews began attending to the first casualties in the hallway at 10:28 a.m.
Finally, at 10:36 a.m., about a half-dozen police officers, paramedics and Ranger, Jackson Township's K-9 dog, forced entry into the classroom, took the perpetrator into custody and released the hostages.
JoAnn Nicodemus, principal and supervisor of the Butler County Vocational-Technical School, said the most frightening aspect of her time as a mock hostage was that dramatic entrance and the few moments of real panic that ensued."Everyone was treated like a criminal at first, because they don't know" who the perpetrator was, she said.And after he was identified, everyone was grilled as to whether there was an accomplice.Rebecca Hester, a third-grade teacher at Rowan Elementary School, first described the experience as "frightening."It was nervewracking, especially with the dogs," she said.While the police did their sweeps of the building, the undercover trooper broke character to give the educators advice about how to handle the situation if it were their classroom, such as the safest locations and positions for students."You should expect different scenarios from the inside than the outside," Hester said.The trooper also discussed management of a potential aggressor, including behaviors to be aware of, notation of physical characteristics and some self-defense, such as placing their shoes on their hands to fend off an attacker with a knife, Hester said."Regardless of what grade you're in or what grade you're teaching, it's important to have an idea that some scenario can happen and to be prepared," she said.The length of time between the gunman's entrance and his takedown by police was the most surprising to participants. The entire drill took about 45 minutes, "not an unreasonable amount of time," according to Keller, who called the drill "a learning experience."I think we found some things we can make improvements on," he said.Superintendent Donald Tylinski said communication is one of the most important aspects in an emergency, one the district learned much about.With 4,000 students, he likened the secondary campus to a small city."It's important in this day and age ¿ things have changed," he said. "Preparation can only be at its peak."Following the drill, district personnel and law enforcement held a debriefing for about two hours. A number of items, from response time to communication methods, were discussed, Keller said."There was a lot of positive input and positive outcome," he said, adding that everyone was in agreement as to where to make adjustments in the crisis plan."The exercise went very well, considering it was the first one," he said, "and the next one should go even better."To improve the exercise, Keller said officials plan to hold similar events at other schools in the district throughout the year. The next one has not been scheduled."I'll put it this way: It's coming to a school near you," he said.
