Frenship Schools Drill for a School Shooter
By: Lauren Murphy
Updated: May 7, 2008
An intruder with a fake gun walks into Bennett Elementary School.
It was a planned drill to see how prepared the kids and the staff would be for an intruder or a school shooter.
"There's not a safe school, unfortunately," said Danny Miller, the director of secondary education for the Frenship school district.
Miller posed as the intruder, who is inspecting all nine Frenship schools.
Students and administrators knew a drill would happen this week, but they didn't know exactly when.
Miller notified the front desk and seconds later the school went into lockdown.
Teachers locked the doors, hid the kids, and slid folders under the door listing any missing kids.
All eight hundred students seemed to vanish.
They were huddled in the corners facing the wall, out of sight from the windows.
Eventually, the assistant principal let the intruder into a classroom, so that Frenship police could have the opportunity to hunt him down.
Administrators were quick to admit an actual incident would have been much different.
"Every school safety incident is different," said Miller.
"It's hard to plan. Anything can happen but it's all about drilling and all about awareness."
