Middle school reacts to threat

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999 | 10:30 a.m.

It started out like most any other Monday at Ed Von Tobel Middle School. Students were at their desks, teachers were leading the lessons, and the flag was luffing in the sunny spring morning's gentle breeze.

But about 9:30 a.m., things changed. Not enough for a passing motorist to observe, nor even nearby residents.

Within minutes of getting the go-ahead, however, teachers began sealing themselves and their students inside windowless classrooms with 2-inch-wide rolls of tape affixed to the doorways. The ventilators were turned off. No kids were allowed out. Von Tobel had become a "Shelter in Place."

Ben Montoya, assistant principal, said the procedure was initiated about the time Metro Police's SWAT team began surrounding a home just north of school grounds, where a 53-year-old man was reported by police to have fired a high-powered rifle at officers and then barricaded himself inside.

Recognizing the potential for more gunfire, school officials activated the Shelter in Place safety plan to keep kids, teachers and administrative staff out of harm's way.

Classroom doors are sealed off to prevent any noxious odors from getting in. Students are locked inside until all is safe outside, permitted only to use the bathroom or eat in the cafeteria if escorted by a teacher or hallway monitor. No lingering on campus is allowed.

Shelter in Place was conceived in the wake of the 1988 PEPCON disaster, when four ammonium perchlorate explosions at the Pacific Engineering and Production Co. of Nevada plant near Henderson rocked the Las Vegas Valley. Two workers were killed and 350 people were injured.

School district officials met with chemical industry representatives, fire department officials and other experts to craft a safety plan in the event of a future chemical explosion. By 1991, the state Legislature required that all public and private schools adopt the then-new Shelter in Place plan.

Schools run their kids through Shelter drills the way they do fire drills throughout the year, and can activate a Shelter in Place plan any time students need the protection, Montoya said.

Kids learn about the program in elementary school, "so it's no big deal to them when they get to (middle school)," Montoya said. "It's ingrained in them. They know what to do."

A few blocks west, Fay Herron Elementary became a Shelter in Place as well during the SWAT standoff that ended about 1:45 p.m., when the suspected gunmen was taken into custody, district spokeswoman Lori Harris said.