LYNNFIELD — In response to the harsh realities of school and gun violence, the Lynnfield School district has taken a huge step toward ensuring the safety and well-being of its students and staff in the event of a crisis.
That’s the message Lynnfield Police Chief David Breen and Lynnfield Fire Chief Glenn Davis during their joint presentation on school safety and security to the Board of Selectmen.
The duo assured the board that Lynnfield’s schools have a plan in place to keep Lynnfield students and staff safe and free from harm in the event of an emergency.
“We came up with a comprehensive evacuation plan and are very pleased with the way all of the schools responded during drills this past year,” said Breen.
“The plan is still evolving but the results of the plan give everyone a lot more comfort knowing a system is in place,” said Davis. “This is not just about hostile environments. I know this is what everyone is talking about, active shooters, but one of the big things we learned is there are other emergencies in the schools like carbon monoxide leaks like Wakefield had. We can use this plan for other times when we need to evacuate schools.
Breen began the presentation by saying that the plan in place, which should be credited to outgoing Superintendent of Schools Jane Tremblay.
“It all began when Jane Tremblay was appointed superintendent,” said Breen. “We sat down and talked about security issues and it was clear she thought the safety and security of the students and staff was paramount. The cooperation from her since then has been unbelievable and I am excited about the approach we are taking.”
Breen said that after his initial discussions with Tremblay, a Safety and Security committee was formed. The committee came to the conclusion that, when schools are under fire or other threat, evacuation may be the better response.
“It doesn’t mean that we exclude lockdown as an option, but evacuation could save more lives,” said Breen.
Breen said since Tremblay became superintendent, 160 web-based surveillance cameras have been installed and are available in the communications room at the police station.
“We are hoping to have them in the cruisers as well,” Breen said.
The committee came up with a comprehensive evacuation plan for all four Lynnfield schools.
The first drill involved police only but later drills conducted in mid to late October were conducted on a full scale with students, staff, police and fire departments, as well as cooperating abuttors, who permitted access to their properties.
“We were very pleased with the times of all of the schools to get to the unification locations,” said Breen. “We had only two students who did not participate and they are elementary school students with medical issues.”
The plan also includes enlisting the services of the DPW whose staff may serve as bus drivers (provided they hold CDL licenses) if regular bus drivers are off-duty at crisis time.
“Lynnfield is not like other towns that have schools next to each other and students can walk to the evacuation locations,” said Fire Chief Glen Davis. “It’s a much bigger task for us because of that, so having the DPW assistance is key.”
There will be four more evacuation drills in April according to Davis.
Selectman Chris Barrett, who has two young children attending Lynnfield schools, said “where we are right now in terms of safety is beyond impressive in terms of safety of our schools.”
