An event on Oct. 22 added stress for people in this building, with the school being forced to go on lockdown when two non-McDaniel individuals turned an interaction with campus safety physical. 

One of the two that started the altercation “stated that they had a weapon,” according to principal Adam Skyles. Precautions had to be taken for the safety of students and staff as they investigated.

During the event, an email saying the lockdown had been changed to secure the perimeter was sent to teachers. Because of the initial lockdown, teachers are supposed to ignore any emails or messages because the admin could be impersonated or threatened to give the all clear. Although teachers got an email that the situation was over, admin are still supposed to come open the doors. This is because teachers don’t know if forms of communication have been compromised. 

Later that week, teachers received a general apology for CSAs not reaching all doors to notify them it was safe. The email that teachers received was general. Personal emails were not sent to the teachers who did not have their door opened by admin.

Once the situation was handled, the office staff announced over the intercoms that the situation was over and students were to remain in their classrooms until lunch, then they could leave. 

According to vice principal Ian Twiss, the protocol for students to be let out of classrooms during a lockdown is to wait for first responders to open the door. That means no one is to leave until their classroom has been notified at their door or by admin and first responders. No one is to be let in or out of classrooms until that happens. 

 A teacher at McDaniel iterated that the way campus security and office staff announced the lockdown was over was not proper protocol. Skyles acknowledged this. 

“There was a mistake that was made, the floor was checked off as cleared when it wasn’t,” Skyles said. 

Skyles added that teachers are not supposed to release students if this situation happens. They are to email the admin to see if the lockdown is still active and to see if the admin forgot to check them off. 

When asked, Skyles’ message to students and staff was that he is apologetic that they made a mistake, but that is not his top priority. His top priority is making sure students are safe. They have reviewed their system and have added a second check. The second check is to ensure that a mistake like this doesn’t happen again.