School lockdown detailed

Athens public school principals Julie Gauerke-Peter and Joy Redmann on Monday reported to the Athens Board of Education how well the safety intruder drill went earlier that day.

The Athens School District holds two safety drills in its schools, one before Dec. 31 and then another one in the spring, to fulfill its requirement to be given school safety grant money from the state, they said.

Gauerke-Peter told school board members the safety drill began at 8:30 a.m. inside the Athens middle/high school building. Students and staff were notified there was a school safety drill and lockdown. Gauerke-Peter and Jamey Handschke, Athens School District buildings and grounds supervisor, secured the inside of the building. Gauerke-Peter then did a walk through on the outside of the middle/high school building and she called principal Redmann at Athens Elementary School to notify her the middle/high school building was in lockdown. The elementary school then proceeded to go into lockdown. Lauri Heier, middle/high school secretary, then called the two Athens parochial schools to notify them the public school buildings were in a lockdown.

Gauerke-Peter said students and staff in the middle/ high school classrooms were instructed to push a green or red placard underneath the doors to indicate to school administration whether they were safe. The green placard means students and staff in the classroom are safe and the red placard means they need help. Gauerke/Peter said the middle/high school safety drill and lockdown ended at 8:45 a.m., at which time the elementary school went into a hard lockdown.

The school district had notified students’ parents it would be conducting the safety drill on Monday.

In other school news:

_ The school board voted to have Athens High School apply for a Fab Lab grant to obtain more equipment in the technology education department such as CNA and laser machines. In the grant, the school district pledges to match the state’s contribution of $12,500 for a total of $25,000 for new equipment.