Principal locks down high school

Matt Wagner
News-Leader
May. 18, 2006

When Central High School Principal Everett Isaacs announced a lockdown without explanation Wednesday morning, some concerned students began calling and text-messaging their parents to find out what was going on.

What exactly happened at the school was hard to determine throughout the day as police, fire and school officials all offered sketchy — and sometimes contradictory — accounts of a bomb threat that was later determined to be unsubstantiated and a drug sweep authorities say turned up no narcotics.

By day's end, the picture had shaped up like this:

A "very vague audio message" was left overnight on a district phone, said Dennis Lewis, head of school security. The message was picked up Wednesday morning and — in line with district policy — school officials reported the potential threat to the fire department.

Assistant Springfield Fire Chief Barry Rowell said the department sent two fire marshals to the school to determine whether the threat was credible.

At roughly the same time, the school initiated a prescheduled "drill" involving a Springfield police officer and a drug-sniffing dog, Lewis said.

Sometime during or after the sweep, Lewis said, the police officer called a fire marshal who handles the department's bomb-sniffing dog and suggested the two conduct a "training exercise" in an area of the school where there were no students.

Rowell said the officers trained together in the school's auditorium.

The scene was eventually cleared after fire officials determined the threat was unsubstantiated and the police officer concluded his search.

"They felt confident ... they could go ahead and open the school back up," Rowell said.

No drugs or drug paraphernalia were found at the school and the narcotics officer did not arrest or take anyone into custody, said Officer Tony Celeste, a Springfield police spokesman.

Students said they were not allowed to leave their classroom after the school was locked down.

Isaacs said he announced over the intercom that the school was under lockdown, telling teachers to corral students into their classrooms and lock the doors. However, he did not announce that it was a drill, saying later that some students and teachers don't take the order seriously if they know it is for a drill.

Lewis said the district recommends that at least three drug sweeps occur at each school every year. At least one of them is unannounced, he said.

Celeste, the police spokes-man, said the officer who searched Central on Wednesday conducts about 30 random searches each year at local high schools and middle schools.

The district doesn't have a policy on what's announced over the intercom when a sweep is under way, but officials generally want students out of the hallways and principals sometimes order a lockdown, Lewis explained.