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The safety protocols of local school districts were tested on Thursday as police worked to apprehend a suspect in a Buena Vista breakin and assault.
After being alerted, Buena Vista, Lexington and Rockbridge County public schools all operated under a “code blue” or “modified lockdown,” which secures school premises while maintaining regular school activities within the building. Code blue also restricts people from entering or leaving the school building.
“We could still move students inside the building like for lunches or if they had to go to the bathroom, but, of course, we restrict that and try to limit [movement] as much as we can,” BVCPS Superintendent Tony Francis told The News-Gazette. “No one goes outside and no one comes in, so we don’t have students going outside for recess or students or parents coming in or out. We secured the perimeter of the building.”
The superintendents of the three local districts were confident that the incident did not pose a serious threat to students or staff, but they all took the precaution.
“We were alerted by local law enforcement of the situation in BV,” said Rockbridge County Superintendent Phillip Thompson. “Local law enforcement felt there was no threat to our schools, but out of an abundance of caution, we decided to place four of our schools – [Mountain View Elementary, Natural Bridge Elementary, Central Elementary, and Maury River Middle] – in a code blue.
Law enforcement informed the superintendents of the situation immediately, enabling them to take quick action to protect the schools.
Francis was appreciative of BVCPS’ close partnership with the Buena Vista Sheriff’s Department and the Buena Vista Police Department, both of which sent officers to all of the BVCPS locations for school dismissal, Francis noted.
“I think everyone - the sheriff’s department, the police department, and the schools - all worked together and had a good plan. We thanked them for their support. They got us officers at all of our schools so we could do the dismissals and reunite [students] with their parents and got them home safely,” he said.
BVCPS did not run buses that Thursday afternoon and required that parents or guardians come to the school to pick up their student.
“We felt like we needed to make sure that parents had them and got them home safely,” Francis said. Staff and administrators remained at the schools until about 4 p.m. once all the students had been accounted for.
Later Thursday evening, Francis sent an email to BVCPS staff to commend them for calmly following lockdown procedures, particularly Dr. Devan Nicely at Enderly Heights Elementary School. The elementary school is practically in the backyard of where Thursday’s police standoff took place.
“… I think Dr. Nicely and his staff did a fabulous job to make sure those [younger] students didn’t panic and work through that. Our number one job was to keep students safe and secure, and I think they did a great job of that. I felt like all of our schools did a really nice job,” the superintendent said.
