STUDENT SAFETY: HOW TO BE SAFE AT ST. URSULA ACADEMY
Officer Nasser calling on a student. Photo by Ava Pitzen
By: Ava Pitzen ‘24
At St. Ursula Academy, all students and faculty are trained and informed on the safety procedures in case of an emergency. Before the school year started, the faculty and staff had a training session about lock down safety.
On February 15, SUA had a safety training presentation given by a police officer.
Officer Nasser was the guest speaker for the presentation. He has been a part of the Toledo Police Department for 10 years. Nasser was one of the police officers who helped lead the training session at the beginning of the year.
“Our mission is to keep everyone safe inside,” said Nasser. Starting off the presentation, he stated that safety, security and well-being of staff and students are the most important things for a school to have. Talking about lockdown situations, Nasser informed the students that the teachers have prepared their classrooms if a lockdown was to arise and how creativity is important during this type of situation.
In a lockdown situation it is important to not give out locations or to be on your phones until you know you are safe.
“Remain silent, remain together,” said Nasser. He instructed on defense mechanisms such as to zig-zagg if running from the threat and to always fight back.
“There is unity in strength, and strength in numbers, if one would be in the position to have to fight back, use things in the classroom and defend yourself no matter what,” said Nasser.
When a lockdown occurs it is very important to remember where you are. If stranded outside the classroom, Nasser instructed to find a closed off space such as a bathroom and to stay silent. “Statistically speaking, silence works really well.” If inside of a classroom, students should remember to “Never walk out until you are given the green light.”
This green light is given only by enforcements such as police, firefighters or by 911. The green light is given normally by a police officer by sliding a badge under the door, reading off their badge number, or being told personally by a 911 dispatcher that it is safe. After this is done, Nasser stated “Only then is it safe to open the door.”
Mrs. Huebner thanking Officer Nasser for speaking at SUA. Photo courtesy of Ava Pitzen
St. Ursula is very blessed to be given this opportunity to hear Nasser’s speech. We are extremely grateful to now know more about how to treat a difficult situation such as having an intruder in our building.
