Silence is loudest when you don’t know what you’re waiting to hear. With every creak in the floor, we anticipated a scream to follow, or much worse. On Monday, we participated in a lockdown that was believed to be an inconvenient drill but was actually strikingly more sinister. As an hour crept by, it became increasingly clear that there was a major threat. Sirens got louder, and heart rates grew exponentially.
According to a statement made by Westfield Police Department Chief Christopher Battiloro, there was a phone call received by the school detailing an event in which two students were shot inside the school. Thankfully, due to a quick response, a proper investigation and thorough sweeps of the school from the WPD, it was determined that the claim on the phone was false and there was no danger. To be educated in a system as protected as Westfield is a privilege that should never be overlooked, but Monday’s lockdown was not seamless.
Miscommunication was a common theme throughout this lockdown. Teachers and students alike were left lost as time passed, unaware of the situation. In unison, parents received a text message that their children were under lockdown and that there was an investigation in place over a malicious phone call sent to the high school. Teachers were not sent the same information: in some cases even, students were relaying external information about the lockdown to their unaware teachers. Although it is important that our parents stay informed, this lack of communication between administration and their faculty was to the detriment of the teachers.
With the new cell phone policy in place, it seemed that every teacher had a different protocol when it came to Monday’s emergency. In some classes devices were prohibited, in others, texts to loved ones were allowed. This is not the fault of our teachers, but rather the lack of detail in our school’s phone policy. The aforementioned is an evident disconnect. For a school that prides itself on safety, this is an inexcusable oversight.
There must be a difference between the typical school day phone policy and how students operate during an emergency situation. The permission to have our phones in an emergency situation is not an immature plea for more time on Snapchat or Instagram. We are aware of the fact that phones are addictive, distracting and abused in schools. However, it is ignorant to use this as a reason for people not to be able to communicate with loved ones in a scary situation.
Even in this helpless situation, each text offers some sense of security to both the student and the parent. It’s normal to look to parents or guardians for comfort, but what happens when that is stripped away from us? Many WHS students were left to discover this as their phones being locked away in caddies rendered them contactless from the outside world. Taking the phones away isn’t a solution.
In order to adhere to both emergencies and standard school days, phones should remain in backpacks, with consequences if not followed, but the right to communicate in emergency circumstances cannot be stripped from us.
As WHS continues the school year, it is essential to learn from the mistakes of this lockdown, and present a more unified front next time in which students, staff and Westfield families can function as one and establish tranquility. In an emergency, communication is not an option, it is a necessity.