‘Unplanned event’ took place at O’Neill on Monday
O’Neill High School students, faculty and staff — as well as the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District’s top administrative staff — were surprised by the activation of the high school’s lockdown alert system on Monday afternoon at about 12:55 p.m.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Sheboy said that he was at his desk in the high school when he got the signal from the school district’s alarm company that they needed to go into lockdown. At the same time, O’Neill Principal Debbie Brand got the same message, and immediately did just as she was told. The building was locked down, with students confined to the classrooms they were in, following procedures they’ve been taught.
It turns out, the system was activated inadvertently, by a faculty member in another of the district’s school buildings. Neither the Highland Falls Intermediate School nor the Fort Montgomery Elementary School was affected by the alarm activation at the high school.
By 1:20 p.m. it was all over, Sheboy said.
“Within 15 minutes of receiving the alarm we realized what it was,” Sheboy said, “and then it took a few minutes to communicate that.”
He, Brand, other district administrators and law enforcement officials — both the Town of Highlands and Highland Falls Police Departments had responded — went classroom to classroom to unlock the doors, again, as is protocol in this type of situation.
While Sheboy said the alarm was initially startling, he’d much rather have a false alarm than anything else.
“Our students and staff responded perfectly to this event,” he said, “and we will learn from it.”
Those who spend their days in any of the local schools are well-versed on what to do in this type of situation; all school districts in New York State are mandated to have 12 emergency drills per school year, four of which are lockdown drills.
