Mike Johnson, with the Washington State Patrol, leads kids from Boistfort Elementary through a 'Safety City' instructional course during a field trip to Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Friday morning south of Chehalis.
I had the opportunity to be present for a lockdown drill at Lintott Elementary in Chehalis on Friday morning. It was eerily quiet coming into the building to work in a classroom. That’s when I happened upon Chehalis School District Security Officer Todd Thornburg in the one hundred hallway, who informed me that there may be a delay getting into a classroom.
So, I went down the hallway to wait in a “break out” space. As I sat down at a table, I felt a little nervous. I had always wondered what it was like for my own son to experience a lockdown drill. Would it make him emotional? Was it scary to the kids? How did educators talk about “danger” in the context of a lockdown?
That’s when Mr. Hunt, Lintott Principal, started speaking over the building-wide intercom. He congratulated the students especially on keeping the noise level down and reminded teachers and staff on how to operate their internal classroom door locks. Mr. Hunt also reminded the students that we practice these drills so we know what to do in case of danger to keep everyone safe inside their classrooms. The words were stern, but kind and appropriate for even the smallest students in their district — preschool to second grade.
As a parent who attended the Chehalis PTA 4.6.5 school security presentation with Officer Thornburg, I was already aware of ALICE training curriculum and other aspects of lockdown education, but it was comforting (in a strange way) to see this experience first-hand, from inside the building perspective. It wasn’t scary or negative — it was very protocol-centered education.
As I entered my son’s classroom, students appeared unfazed and excited for the rest of their school day.
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Speaking of local public schools, many area students this week had the opportunity to attend “Safety City” hosted at Ritchie Bros. south of Chehalis. As a former Chehalis kindergarten student who attended Safety City back when it was located at the Lewis County Mall, I was excited to share the experience with my own son.
Each student learned about when and how to call “911” in an emergency, what a true emergency is, and how to communicate with dispatchers. After that, our group toured the true “Safety City” — the miniature town with road signs and safety prompts. My own son’s group was lucky to be led by Sgt. Randy Pennington of Winlock. Sgt. Pennington led kids through the mock city, where BNSF Rail took over presenting railway crossing safety. Then, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office took over for water and boating safety, including life jacket education and how to call for help in the water. Following that was bus safety, presented by the Centralia-Chehalis Transportation Co-Op and then a dedicated presentation on rail and track safety from Project Lifesaver. I also spotted Napavine Police Department and Lewis County Fire District 5 there, as well.
I’m certain that numerous other organizations are also involved in making Safety City happen each year and on different days in order to accommodate Lewis County students and, as a parent and community member, I’m grateful to each of them for making this real-life education experience possible for kids.
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And since we’re on the topic of local public schools, I just wanted to mention a last point about Centralia School District. I’ve seen the “vote no” postcards sent out by local Centralia community members, urging their neighbors to vote against the Centralia School District levy.
As a former student who experienced not one, but a double levy failure in my own school district growing up, I strongly caution against a no vote. At my own school, levy failures directly led to student athletics and activities fees jumping from $25 / activity per season to $75 / activity per season (not including your student ASB card). I had friends who could no longer play sports with me for several years during school.
I urge each Centralia citizen to consider the source of each of these “no vote” postcards. You can also review some of their previous political financial contributions through the Public Disclosure Commission online. Not only are at least one of these individuals a homeschool parent with students who participate in Centralia athletics, but others were also previous financial contributors to at least one former school board member’s campaign. I find myself wondering if all of these postcards are connected to a former school board member and if urging a “no” vote at this point is simply sour grapes following a failed campaign.
As a final note, I would add that each of these postcards that were sent out likely cost between $2,000 to $3,000 or more (again, each) to mail out including postage … that’s likely more than the levy would cost most families in this area for an entire year. But instead of going to our schools, it’s been spent on negative materials against the district.
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Brittany Voie is a columnist for The Chronicle. She lives south of Chehalis with her husband and two young sons. She welcomes correspondence from the community at voiedevelopment@comcast.net.
