By Daisy Cortes—

In the wake of the horrific events that have taken place at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, school districts around the country are re-evaluating their own procedures and safety. How safe are we in PHS? “We are safe, but we can always find ways to be safer,” said Mr. DeNaples, Vice Principal of building and teachers.

PHS does have procedures in place to help protect us. First there are ten police officers in our school. These officers are trained and armed to stop any intruder coming into PHS. We also have a series of security codes that were put in place for emergencies. These security codes are reported to the main office, and very quickly administrators, school resource police officers, and other security personnel.

There are five codes, organized by color, and each has a specific level or alert. Code Red is the most severe situation. Called by the administration, it is a complete lock down of the school. Code Orange is also called by the administration and means that there is some kind of hazardous condition in the school, like a bomb threat or fire. Of course the building will be evacuated.

Code Yellow is an elevated alert and means that there is an intruder in the building. Students are kept in classes and no hall passes will be issued until the situation is secured by security personnel. The lowest level of alert is Code Blue. When there is an isolated incident like a fight, any observing party can report it and administration and security personnel will respond accordingly. Code Green means that the situation is clear.

Having these security codes is a good beginning, but they are useless unless administration, teachers, security personnel and students all know and adhere to the rules and plans. They have been sent to all school staff. We have also had many drills for both code red and orange.

“These security codes are to only be used for emergencies,” said Mr. Estrict, Senior Class Vice Principal. He added that when a security code is reported to the main office, “administrators, school resource officers and security personnel will report to the area that is in need of assistance, thus interrupting the normal flow of the school day.”

The best thing we can all do to keep ourselves safe is to not let an intruder into the building in the first place. There are designated entry points with security guarding those doors. That will not stop an intruder if someone on the inside of the building opens a locked door for someone trying to get in. “The key thing to stay safe and keep ourselves safe is to not open doors to anyone, if they are a stranger or even if they are our friend or a family member,” said Mr. DeNaples. It is one thing we can all do to maintain a safe environment for all of us in school.