Exterior incident leads to brief hold and secure procedure at St. Mary’s School

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on September 6, 2024.

St. Mary’s School went into hold and secure protocols for roughly 30 minutes Thursday morning following a potential threat outside the building.

Parents were quick to receive emails from the Catholic school division providing details on the hold and secure that was issued at 11:15 a.m. and was all cleared by 11.47 a.m.

During a hold and secure protocol all entrances to the school are locked and no one is allowed in or out of the building, other than first responders, until the hold and secure has been cleared.

Students and teachers however, are still able to continue with their normal lessons and not much changes with their daily class routine, that’s because a potential threat is occurring outside the building.

“A hold and secure is not very disruptive to the learning day,” explains Darrian Hallas, communications co-ordinator with the Catholic division. “Students would get notified over the intercom that we are now to hold and secure and no one is permitted in or outside of the school building, so staff and students would be aware.”

However, it was a much busier time for school administration who quickly sprung into action and deployed the division’s emergency response protocols that go into effect immediately after the division office receives an emergency call.

“So when the school calls the emergency line, it’s a direct line to the central office and it’s got a special ring, so when we hear that ring, we know there’s an emergency,” says Hallas. “Once the call is made then we enact the incident command team.”

By conducting several drills and practice scenarios, a team of individuals from the central office immediately recognized the situation and began to follow protocol.

Hallas says the division has developed a timely and clear communication process to ensure parents are connected during a crisis or emergency.

“Communications were shared on social media platforms, the web platforms within minutes,” says Hallas. “Because our main goal is to alleviate anxious feelings and feelings of fear from parents.

“I think communication wise, everything went really smooth and everyone did their job very well, especially for the beginning of the school year.”