Unannounced School Safety Drill Causes Panic Among Students, Parents

Unannounced School Safety Drill Causes Panic Among Students, Parents

Parents and students were shocked after the Beaufort County School District's safety chief officer dressed as an intruder in an unannounced school safety drill.

  • By Sherelle Black
  • October 10, 2019

On Monday afternoon, Beaufort High School students, parents and teachers were caught off guard when the school was suddenly thrown into lockdown after the district’s safety chief posed as an intruder.

Since then, several parents have took to Facebook to express their dissatisfaction with the unannounced school safety drill.

“Nice job Beaufort County School District,” Beaufort High parent Jordan Elizabeth Posey wrote on Facebook after the incident. “I understand drills but to have a person dressed in all black, BREAK AND THEN JUMP through the window of the high school CLASSROOM like a ninja, and run through the hallways, sending the school into what they ALL thought was a real lockdown was a BIT OVERKILL.” 

“My 9th grader was terrified,” Joe Tidwell commented on Posey’s post. “My 11th grader knew they have a history of over reacting...”

District spokesman Jim Foster told The Island Pocket that the safety chief did not run down the hallways nor did he break windows. However, he did not say how he entered the classroom.

Beaufort High School posted about the incident on Facebook shortly after it occurred, stating “district policies and procedures were followed and notifications were made as soon as possible.”

“We went into modified lock down followed by a full lock down to assess and take action regarding a report of an intruder on campus,” the school’s post read. “Although we had no pre-knowledge of the drill, we were able to quickly locate the BCSD Staff Member who was posing as the intruder.”

Posey said she did not want to spread misinformation, but was shocked at how everything happened.

“Children crying, teachers scared, and me racing to the school after getting texts from my TERRIFIED daughter...not ok,” she wrote. “Traumatizing the kids and staff is probably too much in my opinion.”

About the Author

Sherelle Black is a Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

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