As part of the district’s ongoing commitment to enhancing school security and through our current capital project, the Springville-Griffith Institute Central School District recently completed the installation of technology to help alert students, staff members, and the community should we need to utilize a lockdown procedure at one of our school buildings.
Blue lights have been installed on the interior and exterior of every school building to provide a visual cue and alert students and staff in large spaces like gymnasiums, hallways, and cafeterias that a lockdown has been initiated. Furthermore, there are lights outside the building indicating that it is not safe to approach or enter the building. Should a lockdown be initiated in that school, these lights will flash and be accompanied by a recording of the principal’s voice stating, “Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown.”
If families or community members are visiting our schools and you see the blue lights activated outside the building, you should return to your vehicle immediately and wait for communication from the school or for the lights to stop flashing.
If the system is activated, members of law enforcement will be notified immediately to respond. If you see the blue lights, we ask that you do not call the school in order to keep lines open for emergency response. Please be assured that the school will communicate updates to families as soon as possible.
Please recall that the New York State Education Department requires schools to conduct four lockdown drills per year, two in the fall and two in the spring. Moving forward, we will utilize the blue light system each time we have a lockdown drill. As we have done in the past, whoever announces the lockdown during the drill will clearly communicate over the PA system to all students and staff that “this is a drill.”