Stewart Elementary performs semi-annual lockdown exercise Wednesday afternoon

    Stewart Elementary School is now in the habit of practicing a ?lockdown? twice a year. The school had its second lockdown of the year Wednesday afternoon. The secretary informed the school at 2:45 p.m. that the building was locked down. The school remained in lockdown until 3:15 p.m. when school was dismissed.

    Police Chief Greg Goodman and officer Chad Huschka searched the building just as they would in a real lockdown. The staff and the students followed their respective protocols, too. When it was over, the officers met with the teachers to discuss how the drill went and if they could improve upon anything.

    Goodman explained that the school has different levels of lockdown. The type of lockdown the school practiced Wednesday was for an intruder.

    ?If we have a threat from the inside, we want the kids to be as safe as they can be until we get here,? he said. ?If we have someone in the school, we?re going to lock down tight. If we think the threat is from the outside, then we can start to relax procedures in the school and make things normal for the school.?

    Goodman said that if there were an active shooter in the school, the city police, county deputies and state would rush to the school. All law enforcement agencies are trained in active shooter response.

    ?We get officers there as quickly as possible, and once they get there, they?re going in the door,? he said.

Goodman said that the officers are not necessarily in their SWAT uniforms.

    ?We get here as fast as we can and enter the building,? he said. ?We need to stop the assault right away.?

    Stewart Elementary Principal Rhoda Harris said that all but one exterior door is locked from the outside on normal days. During a lockdown, the main door is locked as well. On Wednesday, the teachers and students locked their doors and remained in their classrooms the whole time during the lockdown.

    ?The teachers are waiting for their signal to resume class,? said Harris. ?Until then, the lockdown is in place.? 

    The lockdown drills this year were prompted by a real lockdown last year. Last March, the Washington Police Department received a call from the Waterloo Police Department about a threatening message on Facebook. The Waterloo police had been informed that someone posted a message on Facebook indicating that they had a gun and were headed to ?Washington High School in Iowa.?

    At that time, the police did not know which ?Washington High School? in the state was being referred to. Goodman said there are four schools named ?Washington? in Iowa, including one in Cedar Rapids. He remarked that the Washington police did not want to take any risks and so advised all the schools in town to go into a lockdown.

    After all the schools went into a lockdown, Goodman received information that the ?Washington High School? in Washington, Iowa, could be ruled out as the school referenced in the Facebook message. The police reported to the schools that they could unlock the interior doors but recommended that they keep the exterior doors locked until classes dismissed for the day. The police had patrol cars driving around all the schools during the lockdown.  

For more, see our Feb. 17 print edition.