Muskego schools are well-practiced in safety measures

Muskego - Police and the schools have worked together extensively on such emergency situations, with an approach erring on the safe side, even if a lockdown turns out to have been unnecessary.

The students and staff are actually quite practiced at lockdowns because all the schools hold drills at least a couple times a year, Muskego Police Lt. David Constantineau explained.

The March 5 incident might be the first lockdown that was ever held for real, Superintendent Kelly Thompson added, although a few schools have instituted "secure perimeter" measures when a potential threat was nearby.

Those "secure perimeter" measures are getting everyone on the playground inside the school, she said. And while the doors are always locked during school, someone is assigned to the main door to monitor requests to enter.

An additional level of security are the cameras, speakers and buzzer-activated door lock at the main door of most of the schools. That's because the office staff can see visitors, Thompson said.

Something called a man-trap - in which visitors can get into the school from outside but cannot get past the inner door without being observed on camera and spoken to before being buzzed in - is used at the high school and Lake Denoon Middle School, Thompson said. Mill Valley uses a similar check-in system, without the camera.

If something does happen, the high school has an armed police officer known as the school resource officer and the two middle schools share their resource officers with the five elementary schools, Constantineau said.

Finally, whenever students are outside of the building, security aides who are with them can provide instant communication via two-way radios, Thompson said.