PASCO, Wash.–A secure and teach lockdown at Delta High School was issued on Tuesday to keep a student’s medical crisis private.
Anna Tensmeyer, Pasco School District public affairs director, said the situation involved a student needing medical attention, which resulted in the secure and teach lockdown, which is different from a lockdown issued because of a threat or criminal activity.
Instead of everything being shut down, classes continued as normal while the student received medical care, Tensmeyer said.
Pasco Police Lieutenant Thomas Groom said every lockdown situation is about students’ safety, and while Wednesday’s incident was isolated to the school, not every lockdown works that way.
“It would not be uncommon for law enforcement to be serving a search warrant or responding to a call nearby,” he said. “A school may elect to go on that lockdown or that secure and teach posture, just as an extra precaution.”
Groom encourages parents to not show up to the school if they are notified of any type of lockdown, especially if an incident has nothing to do with the school itself.
“At times it has nothing to do with the school. It’s just in the area. And if we are trying to do our work near a school and now we have an increased amount of traffic and people in the area, it can make things more difficult,” he said. “Try and reach out and get as much information, call the schools, try and go that route rather than showing up immediately and trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Tensmeyer said parents were notified of this incident through Parent Square in Powerschool.
Parents can opt in to these notifications, and instructions on how to do so can be found on the Pasco School District website.
