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For the second consecutive year, the Fort Dodge Community School district held a lockdown safety drill in each of the buildings.
This year the drill, which was conducted Thursday, was held at 9 a.m. in each building. Last year, the drills were held at different times, but all occurred on March 8.
At 9 a.m., an announcement was read at each building for students and staff to proceed to their designated safety areas. They were instructed to turn off all lights, lock all doors and to remain out of sight until the drill was complete.
Designated staff then cleared each of the building rooms and students and staff had a quick debriefing.
"By all accounts, everything looked great," said district Security and Safety Director Roger Porter. "Staff and students did what they were supposed to do according to our standard response protocol (SRP)."
Porter said during the drills, he asked administration and support staff to identify anything that needs addressed, such as a broken lock.
"We'll jot that down and do a report on it and get it taken care of," he said.
Porter said the district will continue to do safety drills in the coming years and will actually be doing two or three per school year. He said he hopes to have one drill each fall and then a second or third later in the school year.
Porter added that he'd like to get students and staff as comfortable with the protocols for the lockdown drills as they are with fire and tornado drills, which have been held for decades.
"All the drills are important because they are life-saving drills," he said. "The top priority for the district is the safety of the kids and staff in the buildings.
"It's similar to when I was a police officer. You train for all different types of scenarios and you train to the point of near perfection, but you hope to God you never have to use them."
Prior to the drill, the district held a parent information meeting at the middle school. Porter said most parents were supportive of the steps the district was making.
One of those steps is the submission of a safety grant from the state, that will help purchase different safety tools for the district.
"I have it pretty much all approved," he said. "At least the initial steps. I had to rewrite and resubmit the assessment. We're meeting about some of it (Friday), so having the drill (Thursday) was actually a Godsend because it allowed me to say, okay, here's some things we need."
Porter spent most of the day Thursday going to each building and meeting with each of the building administrators. He discussed areas of concern or need that arose from the drill. He was at the middle school where his office is located during the actual drill.
"School Safety continues to be a top priority for our students and staff. It's important that as a district we practice our SRP drills," said Superintendent Josh Porter. "Much like fire and tornado drills which we practice three times a year, the other SRP drills will be very similar as we move forward as a district. Before long it will be routine just like other drills that we practice."