‘Active intruder drill' held at North Main

MONROE - An “active intruder drill” was held at North Main Elementary School this past Wednesday, designed to test the readiness of school administrators and staff as well as Monroe Village Police and ambulance departments to respond to an intruder who may or may not have a weapon. “This gives us a chance to see how our school officials and staff respond, our school security procedures and how local police and ambulance responders handle the situation,” said Monroe-Woodbury School District Superintendent Edward Mehrhof. “How are we reacting, and where do we need to do better?” Several years ago, a similar drill was held at the high school. The district plans to hold comparable exercises at all district buildings because, according to Mehrhof, “each building’s floor plan is unique. At North Main, for example, there are no walls, so we want the first-responders who normally don’t go inside the hallways to know what’s there.” While school officials knew the route to be taken by “the intruder” in the building, police and ambulance professionals purposely did not know the path. Mehrhof is hopeful to hold a much larger scale drill at the high school this spring involving helicopters, fire departments and other first responders. Volunteers and school staff were given roles to play, and high school students taped the exercise for follow-up critiquing during the debriefing process. - Nancy Kriz