After more than three years with no lockdown drills at Shalhevet, Chief Operating Officer Ms. Sarah Emerson says that school officials are in the midst of planning one for this school year. 

“It is important just from a behavioral standpoint to feel – to go through the motions at least, of what you would do instinctually and reflexively and with guidance, with your classmates,” said Ms. Emerson in an interview with the Boiling Point on Dec. 9. 

The interview was arranged in response to a mass school shooting in Michigan Nov. 30, when a sophomore at Oxford High School in Oakland County opened fire. He shot more than 30 rounds, killing four students and injuring seven more, some critically. 

According to media reports, following the shooting, students at Oxford High School praised active shooter drills which had been held, and said that what they learned in those drills had helped during the shooting. 

Shalhevet’s most recent lockdown drill took place Dec. 20, 2018, one of only two since moving into the new building in the fall of 2015. No current Shalhevet student has ever experienced a lockdown drill at Shalhevet. In-person school stopped in March of 2020 but resumed, largely outdoors, last spring.

Ms. Emerson said the date of the planned drill was still being decided.  But she said it would begin with someone reading a code over the PA system. For the last lockdown drill that code was, “Mr. Weiss, can you please come to the office,” and on hearing it teachers would direct their students as to what to do and where in their rooms to hide.

Still, Ms. Emerson said it’s impossible to plan for every situation, and she worried that a drill would give students a false sense of security. 

“There is no situation that we can plan for 100%,” Ms. Emerson said. “So there would be no way to know that it would be exactly this scenario, you would be in exactly this location.”

She added that the school is in constant communication with their security committee and the Jewish Federation Community Security Initiative, and stays aware of any threats against the Shalhevet community or the neighborhood. 

“We feel our perimeter coverage is pretty strong,” said Ms. Emerson. “This building was built with a lot of consultation with our security experts.” 

According to media reports, the Oxford High School  shooter – a student at the school – has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder along with one count of terrorism. 

The day prior to the shooting, a teacher sent him to the principal’s office because he was searching how to purchase ammunition while in class. 

His mother, who along with the shooter’s father, are charged with involuntary manslaughter, texted her son, “LOL I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.”

Other red flags included a drawing which illustrated a mass shooting and caused the shooter and his parents to meet with school officials on the day of the shooting. At the time of the meeting the shooter had the gun in his backpack and was later allowed to return back to class.

Killed were Madisyn Baldwin and Justin Shilling, both 17; Tate Myre, 16 and Hana St. Juliana, 14.