The Quilcene School District went into its first lockdown in a half-dozen years, and while there were no injuries, school district personnel agreed the experience offered valuable lessons.

Quilcene Principal Sean Moss issued a statement Nov. 14, shortly after the incident, explaining the campus went into lockdown after a school staff member heard the sound of gunshots near the campus that afternoon.

“Consequently, we immediately placed the school into lockdown and contacted 911,” Moss said. “Within minutes, several sheriff’s deputies arrived and proceeded to investigate the source of the gunshots.”

Moss said the Jefferson County deputies gave the school district an all clear signal after about 45 minutes, and school staff proceeded with their normal schedule.

Art Frank, chief criminal deputy for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said the source of the reported gunshots was never found.

“It was determined quickly that no one at the school or in the community was in danger,” Frank said. “In a rural community, the sound of people shooting legally is not uncommon.”

In his statement to the public, Moss emphasized all students and staff were safe and accounted for throughout the incident.

“During the lockdown, I cannot express how proud I was of our students, staff and the responding deputies,” Moss said. “All parties acted quickly and in accordance with our emergency training.”

Moss sought to assure the public this sort of incident “is something we routinely train for,” but nonetheless acknowledged, “I realize that it can be frightening subject.”

Based on conversations with longtime school staff and community members, Quilcene Superintendent Frank Redmon determined the last time the school district went into lockdown was Nov. 15, 2012, during a robbery at the U.S. Bank.

“For the sake of student safety in an unknown situation, we initiate our lockdown protocol,” Redmon said. “This is a process of notifying all of our staff members through a couple of channels, to ensure everyone gets the notification as soon as possible, while at the same time contacting law enforcement via 911.”

Redmon said four of the Quilcene School District’s staff members — including the principal, the operations manager and campus support — attended a “Train the Trainer” session for the Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (ALICE) program in Port Townsend.

“At this same training were dozens of local law enforcement officers, including Mark Apeland and other personnel who were on scene during the call Nov. 14,” Redmon said. “We introduced the overall concept to our staff last year and have followed up by conducting several drills, practicing a few different scenarios.”

Redmon singled out a relevant aspect of the ALICE training as seeking to empower staff members to make timely decisions based on what they are seeing and hearing in the moment.

“For instance, the staff member who heard the gunshots started the lockdown protocol in her area before the campus-wide notification went out,” Redmon said. “I believe this has benefited us greatly, by empowering trained adults to make important decisions in individual, specific, circumstances.”

Redmon outlined the goals of the district’s regular training and drills as ensuring staff and students are familiar and comfortable with how to respond in emergency situations.

The Quilcene School District is required to conduct drills monthly, and Redmon described how the district tends to practice its responses to a variety of potential incidents throughout the school year.

“ALICE-type drills are part of that routine,” Redmon said. “We try to set the intensity of the drills such that the students and staff feel some level of urgency to participate in the practice, while keeping in mind that these types of scenarios can be quite stressful for our younger students.”

Redmon stipulated that such drills are always followed up with class-by-class debriefings, including lessons learned, and how students and staff might improve and increase their awareness of safety procedures and protocols.

Two guidelines Redmon offered to parents and other community members for such situations:

1. Do not come on campus for any reason during an emergency.

“These situations can be complex and chaotic,” Redmon said. “Having adults moving on or near campus greatly complicates law enforcement’s job of clearing the area of potential threats.”

2. The Quilcene School District will communicate using multiple methods, including school messenger, Facebook and their website, as soon as it is safe to do so.

“Our first priority is keeping our students and staff safe,” Redmon said. “Our second priority is communicating with our parents and community. Rest assured, we will provide as much information to the public as we can, as soon as we can. In this particular situation, we were able to get the word out a matter of minutes after receiving the all clear.”

Redmon also listed four takeaways from this lockdown:

1. “Our staff and students reacted appropriately to the lockdown,” Redmon said. “Everyone knew their roles and responsibilities. We are proud of our Rangers.”

2. Redmon acknowledged the Quilcene School District “erred on the side of caution” in this case and pledged to continue to do so in the future.

3. “Our training is helping students and staff know what to do,” Redmon said. “We will continue to train as we would act in a real situation.”

4. Redmon conceded there were some areas of “internal communication” where the district found some room for improvement.

“Those are part of our after-the-incident assessment, and we already have plans in place to address those issues,” Redmon said.