Lincoln Public Schools is dedicated to creating a safe learning environment for all students and takes necessary precautions to ensure said environment. They do so by having drills regularly in order for students and staff to be prepared for a number of emergency situations. 

“Schools are required by the state and district to execute so many drills per school year,” student services coordinator Mr. Duane Baack said. “We are required to do 11 evacuation drills, two lockdown drills, two secure drills, two shelter drills.”

Every drill is followed by actions in accordance with the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) including “Secure,” “Lockdown,” “Evacuate,” “Shelter” and “Hold.” 

“When emergency situations occur, people are so stressed that they have a hard time figuring out how to stay safe,” LPS Director of Security Joseph Wright said. “We teach drills to people when they are calm so they have the information to use when they need it.” 

School drills are altered based on school-specific research or if schools have been remodeled in order to make drills more effective. 

“We have tried to make them more effective by changing our drills from unannounced tests into a safety curriculum where teachers pre-teach the lesson, students demonstrate the lesson during the drill and teachers and students debrief after the lesson and drill,” Wright said. “This is the kind of activity where teachers and students are most successful, and we want our safety curriculum to be as successful as possible.” 

During these lessons, students watch videos relaying how the drills work and what they can do in a number of emergency situations. 

By practicing these drills, LPS is able to maintain a safe learning environment and ensure that in the case of an emergency, students will be better prepared to stay safe.