White Sands School’s number one priority is safety

On August 12, White Sands School Principal James Dickerson held a meeting to discuss safety with parents. More specifically, he reviewed the Site Safety Plan for White Sands School (WSS). Every three years, the school must update the plan. The 174-page document has in-depth information focusing specifically on the safety procedures for WSS.

In addition to the school officials' attendance, the U.S. Army Garrison White Sands Missile Range's new Director of Emergency Services, Stephen Edmonds, White Sands Missile Range emergency personnel, including Fire Department members, and several other members of Team WSMR were present.

"We are excited to be here to partner with the school and everyone else across the installation. We have got a great team here, and we are continuing to build our relationships off of the installation," said Edmonds. "I am going out and meeting with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners."

At the meeting, Dickerson briefed the most vital topics parents were concerned about, including entry access to the school, school shootings, communication during an incident, and pick-up locations in emergencies.

"We practice things over and over because I believe that practice makes you better," said Dickerson. "We do fire drills, shelter-in-place drills, and we continue to practice, so if the time ever comes, our kids and everyone working at our school is prepared."

Dickerson emphasized that safety is his and the school's number one priority. He shared an instance when the fire alarm sounded off accidentally, and the kids followed all the protocols and lined up as taught with minimum guidance. He emphasized that instances like these are due to the school's efforts regarding the kids' safety and the cooperation of the students.

Parents were concerned with the emotional impact these drills may have on the kids. They wanted to know what the school was doing to explain the drills, especially the sheltering in place and lockdowns. The explanations were especially crucial when the Uvalde School Shooting topic came up.

"We use ALICE to teach kids about safety. This book is called 'I'm Not Scared…I'm Prepared!' and it uses a bad wolf to explain things," said Dickerson.

The book is part of a curriculum called ALICE; a method that teaches people what to do during an active shooter incident. It has training resources for schools and age-appropriate materials to help kids understand and prepare them if an active shooter instance arises. According to the ALICE website, the acronym stands for:

ALERT: Get the word out that a threat exists.

LOCKDOWN: Barricade the room. Prepare to evacuate or counter if needed.

INFORM: Communicate the violent intruder's location and direction in real time.

COUNTER: This is a last resort. Create noise, movement, distance and distraction with the intent of reducing the shooter's ability to shoot accurately. Counter is NOT fighting.

EVACUATE: The goal is to move students out of the danger zone. It's important to be prepared to escape.

Despite not knowing the exact details of the recent shooting at Uvalde, Dickerson and the WSMR emergency officials let parents know if a similar shooting incident occurred at the school, the first person on the scene would take action. Their guidance is to confront the shooter as quickly as possible, and their protocols do not include waiting on others to make decisions.

The parents also questioned who is in charge during an incident. The emergency officials and Dickerson explained that they follow the FEMA guidelines for emergency responses.

For example, in a fire incident, Dickerson (or his backup) will be the Incident Commander making decisions once the incident occurs. However, once the firefighters arrive, one of the firefighters will take over as the Incident Commander upon arrival.

All emergency personnel on WSMR have completed the FEMA training, and the school is getting more of their teachers and staff to do the training. This ensures that someone will always be in charge and ready to make decisions.

During evacuations, everyone from the school will head to the Chapel. If there is a shelter in place, the school provides information through various means. To receive messages on emergency incidents and updates from White Sands School, there are a few ways:

Las Cruces Public School Application - available in your phone's app store

Remind Application – sign up with your students' teacher or call the school for more information

Ensure the contact information that the school has for you is up to date (email, phone, etc.)

For more information contact the school at 575-674-1241