Oak Forest HS Hosts Training for Police, Fire and Emergency Response Team

It’s every educator and parents’ worst nightmare - an unknown assailant putting the school on a lockdown situation. Not knowing what could happen makes people anxious and nervous.

On January 16, teachers at Oak Forest High School had the opportunity to practice an expanded lockdown drill in conjunction with the Oak Forest Police Department, the Oak Forest Fire Department and the South Suburban Emergency Response Team.

Teachers were instructed to go about their normal educational business in their classrooms and to initiate lockdown procedures when they heard the intercom direction to do so.

The drill was designed to be as realistic as possible. Teachers heard fighting in the hallway, their doors rattled with someone trying to enter their classroom, and simulated gunfire from an unknown shooter. All of this was done in order to train the police, fire department, and school personnel on what they should do in this type of situation.

Oak Forest Police Chief Anderson thanked Oak Forest High School teachers and administrators for sponsoring the training session. He said the Oak Forest Police Department would be the first responders to the scene and that “their role when they are first responding is to stop the threat. Once that is secure, we will go through the school room by room to know that all are safe.”

Students actors were given roles in this training exercise by Oak Forest Police Officer Craig Zelhart. Officer Zelhart said, “[We] planned the scenario and worked with and trained the students who acted in the scenes.” He advised teachers to have a worst case scenario plan in the case of a problem.

Students who acted in the scenes said that participating in the training exercise was very intense. Oak Forest High School Junior Matt Casey said that he was in the Instructional Materials Center when the bad guy came in and held students in the IMC hostage. “Then the SWAT team came in. It was just like TV. The guy fell down and the SWAT team handcuffed him. Then they cleared the room and made sure no other bad guys were out there.”

Several students said that the training exercise made them anxious because they didn’t anticipate it feeling so very real. Senior Sabrina Swidergal said, “I was anxious….really nervous and scared because it seemed very real. The reality of lying there, wounded, was nerve wracking.” Swidergal’s role in the scenario is that she had received a chest wound. “I had to pretend I had a chest wound and wasn’t breathing.” The EMT’s evaluated her and loaded her up onto a stretcher and took her out of danger’s way.

Seniors Benita Joseph and Liz Hendzel were the students who called 911 in the training exercise. They actually dialed 911 and described to the dispatcher, who was also in on the training exercise, what was happening. Hendzel said, “The dispatcher asked for a description of the shooter and if I had a safe place. I was panicking.” Joseph had a similar experience, saying, “It was cool and just like TV.”

The simulated gun shots also made some students nervous. Senior Marley Majetic said, “I heard them in the foyer. I stopped breathing and was very nervous. I never heard a shot fired before, so that was scary.”

Assistant Commander Patrick Siemsen of the South Suburban Emergency Response Team said that the team and the local responders train for every situation. The experience that teachers had was “only a little taste of what we would experience in real life.” He said that the tactics that the South Suburban Emergency Response Team, and the Oak Forest Fire and Police Department used during the training exercise came out of what was learned during Columbine.

Students who participated in the training experience agreed that it was a good, though scary, experience.