Armed guards, security drills: Catholic schools enhance security after Minneapolis

(OSV News) -- From armed guards to enhanced drills, Catholic schools throughout the country are bolstering their security measures, following last month's deadly mass shooting targeting students at a Minneapolis school liturgy.

"The tragic events at Annunciation Catholic School highlight the need for all safety protocols to be in place," wrote Sister Mary Grace Walsh, Archdiocese of New York superintendent of schools and an Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in an Aug. 28 letter to that archdiocese's Catholic school administrators.

That letter came a day after suspect Robin (formerly known as Robert) Westman, 23, opened fire through the windows of Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis as students gathered for a back-to-school Mass. The attack killed two children and wounded close to two dozen children and adults, with Westman dying at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Hours after the attack, Bishop Mark A. Eckman of Pittsburgh said in a statement his diocese's director of safety and security, Wendell Hissrich, "continues to actively monitor developments and to remain in close contact with law enforcement."

Bishop Eckman said Pittsburgh diocesan schools "remain vigilant" and continue to follow "established safety protocols."

Diocese of Buffalo school superintendent Joleen Dimitroff told ABC affiliate WKBW in Buffalo, New York, that armed guards would be stationed at all Catholic elementary schools in that diocese, saying that the Minneapolis shooting "shook us to our core."

Dimitroff said that costs for the guards would be covered in part this year by the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, with a modest increase in next year's tuition also expected to fund the measure.

In an Aug. 28 statement, the Archdiocese of Miami said that all of its schools "operate under a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan, which is updated annually and reviewed in collaboration with multiple local law enforcement agencies."

The plan "outlines detailed protocols for responding to a variety of safety situations, including safety procedures during school masses," said the archdiocese in its statement. "In addition, all students, faculty, and staff receive regular training to ensure preparedness in the event of an emergency. All parents have been made aware of these procedures."

Nicole Gibboni, president of the Regina Coeli Academy in Abington, Pennsylvania (part of the Regina Academies located throughout suburban Philadelphia), told OSV News that her school has benefited from the security expertise of a past parent, who "ran all of the security protocols" for the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex.

"She wrote all of our protocols and procedures," said Gibboni, adding, "We practice them consistently," with "drills every month of the school year, September all the way through May."

"Sometimes we have fire evacuations," and at others, drills for "unauthorized access, missing child lockdowns," she said. "We always tell our faculty, 'We are prepared for everything, and we pray and hope that nothing ever happens.'"

In her Aug. 28 letter to New York archdiocesan school staff, Sister Mary Grace urged that emergency drills -- which, as she reminded administrators, include "active shooter training at regular intervals" -- be regarded "not merely as requirements, but as opportunities to reinforce a safe and nurturing environment where students can learn, grow, and flourish."

Prior to the start of the academic year in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, all school employees must attend a "mandated school safety training" coordinated with that city's sheriff's department, Santa Fe archdiocesan school superintendent Donna Illerbrun told OSV News.

While school safety plans -- which increasingly gained traction during the mid-20th century, accelerating during the Cold War and in particular after the 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting in Colorado -- have been the norm for the past several decades, school events at parish churches and worship sites present "some very unique concerns," security expert Craig Gundry recently told OSV News.

"Quite frequently it is impractical for people to escape quickly, and quite frequently there are inadequate other internal safe refuge areas," said Gundry, who is vice president of special projects for Critical Intervention Services, a Florida-based security consulting firm that has been providing complex risk solutions for corporations, international government organizations, schools, hospitals and other entities.

A survivor of the Annunciation mass shooting told Fox 9 in Minneapolis that the attack was "super scary," since he and his schoolmates had "never practiced" active shooter drills in the church.

"We've only practiced it in the main school," fifth-grader Weston Halsne, who had a friend injured in the shooting, told the news outlet. "So we really didn't know what to do. We just got into the pews, and he (the attacker) shot through the stained-glass windows."

Nicole Gibboni said her Regina Coeli students are in church three times per week -- twice for Mass, and once for Eucharistic adoration. As a result, she said, "we continue to discuss the 'run, hide, fight' continuum" of security responses with students, while telling them that "it's unfortunate you have to have these conversations."

Parents are also engaged in that process, she said.

Gibboni said she reminds parents that drills for active assailant scenarios are a key opportunity for them to talk to their children "about the things they need to be aware of in school situations."

Gibboni, Illerbrun and Sister Mary Grace also stressed the importance of prayer and trusting in God's guidance and protection.

Above all, said Sister Mary Grace in her letter to archdiocesan school staff, "Let your students see, in word and action, that they are valued, loved, and protected."