Prairie Ridge High School Holding Lockdown Tuesday

This Prairie Ridge High School blanket was found at a Marengo Settlers Days Parade

This Prairie Ridge High School blanket was found at a Marengo Settlers Days Parade

Not only will Crystal Lake Central High School hold a lockdown drill next Tuesday, but so will Prairie Ridge.

South High School held one on December 18th and Cary-Grove’s was on January 30th.

Here is the email to parents that was sent out:

Dear Prairie Ridge Parent:

For the past decade, the Prairie Ridge High School staff has participated in code red lockdown drills at least once per year. During this school year, each District 155 school has committed to conducting a lockdown practice with students and staff members so they may be able to more quickly react should an emergency arise. As you may be aware, both Crystal Lake South and Cary-Grove have completed their drills.

Prairie Ridge High School will conduct a lockdown drill on Tuesday, February 12. Please be aware that at this time we will not be enacting any active scenarios or simulated gunfire as a part of this drill. Since we have not previously conducted a drill of this kind with students, we feel it is important to establish the protocols and routines so that all students understand the lockdown procedure. This is the same approach used with Prairie Ridge staff in the early years of practicing lockdowns.

This invaluable practice will take approximately 15-20 minutes, during which time teachers will secure their rooms, draw curtains, and keep their students from traveling throughout the building. Our school resource officer-a member of the Crystal Lake Police Department-will assist us in sweeping the building to ensure that all students are in a secure location during the drill. At the conclusion of the drill, we will return to our normal classroom routine.

I encourage you to discuss the drill with your student both before and after it happens. These drills help our students and staff to be prepared should a crisis occur, but we understand it may cause some students to have increased anxiety. In those cases, your voice may provide reassurances of the drill’s importance. Additionally, we have trained social workers, counselors, and a school psychologist on staff who can speak directly with your child should he or she need any added support.

Should you have any questions, please contact our deans of students, Emory Swinney (eswinney@d1SS.org) or Scott LeMoine (slemoine@d155.org), or any member of the Prairie Ridge administrative team. Together, we can keep our schools a safe place for your child to learn and grow.

Sincerely,

Paul Humpa, Principal
Prairie Ridge High School


Comments

Prairie Ridge High School Holding Lockdown Tuesday — 1 Comment

  1. Wow, two for three.

    Nice to also see the Prairie Grove exercising common sense on the issue of simulated gun fire as well as Crystal Lake Central. Wonder what Crystal Lake South is thinking. Cary-Grove clearly made a mistake and now the board and administrators are doing something about it.

    If we really want to expose our children to gunfire and firearms then lets take them to On Target in Crystal Lake and let them get trained up and actually handle and use a weapon.

    This will:

    1) Actually educate our children and young adults on how to handle and use a weapon in an environment that will not frighten them

    2) Will expose our children and young adults to the sound of weapons fire in a manner consistent with 100s of years of experience, military or otherwise.

    KUDOS to Principal Olsen and his staff.

    In closing – we have a lot of work to do here in McHenry County and Illinois on our Second Amendment Rights. I love Illinois, I moved back here after a 20 year military career, and we are the only state without concealed carry.

    We need it – criminals need to wonder who is carrying and who is not.

    There is a great book by John Lott called “More Guns – Less Crime”. I highly recommend everyone read it. It is in its third addition and Illinois is the poster child for why we need concealed carry (as if the news out of Chicago isn’t enough).

    KUDOS to Principal Olsen and his staff.

    Respectfully,
    Andrew Gasser

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