Lockdown exercise at Maricopa Wells

“Hurry in please and stand away from windows and doors,” came the order from an official as people approached the school.

Some residents and their children were seated around the administrative office as Pinal County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Units searched classrooms and buildings.

After a couple of hours a voice came over the intercom: “Staff, we are clear,” concluding the emergency lockdown exercise at Maricopa Wells Middle School this morning.

Maricopa Unified School District Superintendent Dr. John Flores and members of the Sheriff’s Office coordinated this exercise to show students that illegal activity won’t be tolerated by MUSD.

Although students were not searched or sniffed by the dogs, students were able to see how serious the school district and sheriff’s department are about crime on campuses.

Pinal County Sheriff’s K-9 Units searched Maricopa Wells Middle School during a
lockdown exercise this morning.

This sends a message that we won’t tolerate drugs on campus — period,” said Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputy Kent Ogaard.

Although drugs were the primary focus of the lockdown exercise, they can be looking for anything according to Flores.

“Students don’t know what police are looking for,” Flores said. “This becomes a deterrent for drugs, gangs or anything that isn’t supposed to be at the school.”

But safety officials aren’t just interested in scaring students. Ogaard said this is about setting safety standards.

“Ever since fire drills started at schools around the country, not one child has died in a school fire,” said Ogaard. “That’s what we want to achieve with other safety issues.”

Flores said this exercise was not reactive to anything that has happened, but a proactive response to issues concerning safety for school children.

With school shootings and other incidents such as the 1999 Columbine High School massacre or the more recent Amber Alert regarding a Maricopa girl, school administrators take campus safety seriously.

“Our number one priority is to make children safe,” said Flores. “We want to keep this community an oasis.”

The following letter from Maricopa Wells Middle School Principal Stephanie Sharp went out to parents and guardians today:

“As stated in our district emergency response letter that went home earlier this month, our students will be practicing all types of emergency response procedures including fire drills, lockdown drills, and evacuation drills. These practice opportunities help to ensure that our students and staff are well aware of safety procedures in the event of an emergency.

“Today, our school participated in a lockdown drill. Our students and staff did a fabulous job following the correct procedures during our practice. In addition to this practice opportunity, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit was present during our lockdown. The K-9 Unit performed a sweep of the campus as a proactive, preventative response to keeping our campus drug free. Students were removed from the classrooms to the courtyard areas while the K-9 Units swept the classroom areas. Students did an excellent job exiting and reentering the classrooms in an orderly and quiet manner.

Please remind your child that these drills are not designed to create fear. Rather they are designed to help each of us to be as fully prepared in the event of a real emergency, to provide the safest campus and procedures possible, and most importantly to keep all of our students safe at all times. We thank you for your continued support.”

Sincerely,
Stephanie Sharp, Principal