Students faint, traumatised as masked men ‘invade’ school

By Emmanuel Joseph and Sheria Brathwaite

What was intended to be an emergency school safety drill Wednesday morning at Springer Memorial Secondary School went badly wrong, traumatising several students, and triggering outrage and debate that by day’s end turned into a political controversy that put educators and parent activists on opposite ends.

As part of a simulation done in conjunction with the Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Defence Force, masked men with fake guns and machetes, stormed the Government Hill, St Michael school.

The men reportedly went around from classroom to classroom, purportedly in search of someone.

Although the school administration and teachers were aware of the drill, it became apparent that the students and parents were kept in the dark. The event triggered panic among several students, some of whom had panic and asthma attacks, while others fainted. Many were seen leaving the school with their parents in tears.

A senior-year student describing the chaotic scene on the campus of the all-girls high school told Barbados TODAY: “Children were getting seizures. I understand that at some point it has to happen to prepare us for whatever, but they carried it too far. Men with ski masks on, machetes in their hands, and guns. This sort of thing ain’t right. Suppose a child had a heart attack?”

After receiving calls from their children, many parents turned up at the school to collect their wards.

One parent, Andrea Goodman, who said her daughter was traumatised, told reporters: “I do not think it should be a drill [simulating] men on the ‘block’ with cutlasses and you got girl children in a school.”

She added that her child received a cut on her foot and she was taking her to the doctor and would consider seeking legal advice.

Another parent, who was visibly shaken by the incident, said: “This is not right, I am traumatised as well. When I got the news I didn’t know what to do, I was all over the place.”

Joseph Green said he was not sure if his 13-year-old daughter would be returning to school for the remainder of the week owing to how shaken she was from the incident.

“We need to know the facts. Therefore, the head teacher or the ministry would have to address the issue and let people know what really happened here today. If it was not prepared right and this was a simulation, it is madness.

“My daughter was traumatised, I had to lift her to the vehicle; she was crying, she was shaken, [and] a lot of children were in a mess. I came here and [saw] people faint out and all sorts of stuff, it was horrible,” he said.

As the day wore on, Cheryl Gill, whose term as principal began with the new school year in September, phoned into Voice of Barbados to publicly apologise to the parents on the Down to Brass Tacks call-in programme.

“I do apologise to parents for any distress which they may have experienced. We are an open-door school. We are very willing to speak with parents at any point in time,” she said.

In a statement on Wednesday night, Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, while expressing “regret” over the impact the turn of events on the children, distanced the Ministry of Education from the incident, stating that the drills were in the purview of the school management, adding that the ministry had launched an investigation.

Dr Archer-Bradshaw said: “This morning I received notification that a lockdown drill had been conducted at the Springer Memorial School, which involved a simulation exercise that caused children to be understandably alarmed. The principal indicated that the exercise was conducted with the support and cooperation of the Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Defence Force.

“The Ministry of Education was unaware of the nature of the drill and is investigating the matter. Please be reminded that matters such as drills at schools are directly within the purview of principals and management of schools. The Ministry of Education supports the conduct of standard drills as part of safety at schools. However, we deeply regret the emotional distress experienced by some students and their parents and guardians during this exercise. The ministry is in communication with the principal and is awaiting a full report on today’s events.”

The country’s two teachers unions declared their support for the drill, putting them at odds with parent advocates and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).

The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) was aware of the simulated exercise which was organised by the school’s health and safety committee, according to president Rudy Lovell.

“The simulation exercise was intended to determine if there were any gaps that needed to be filled in terms of security. In our opinion, the drill was necessary to allow for any remedies to those issues with regard to security,” he said.

Given the number of security issues at public schools, Lovell said intruder simulations should have been happening a long time ago so students and teachers would know what to do should there be an intrusion at school.

“This is why intruder emergency drills are necessary; emergencies are not always disasters. Some schools may have protocols to deal with these issues and there are some that don’t. The ministry was supposed to have a security policy for schools and it was supposed to be rolled out in September. Unfortunately, it has not been provided to us as yet and hopefully, it could be completed in time to be distributed by the end of the month.”

Lovell added that there were a lot of lessons to be learned.

“We hoped that they were learnt fairly quickly. There is a need to beef up security in all schools,” he said.

The Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU) also backed the simulated storming of the school.

While empathising with those adversely affected by the appearance of masked “gunmen” on campus, BSTU president Mary Redman suggested the continued conduct of such drills.

The union leader told Barbados TODAY she was awaiting a full report on the incident from the BSTU’s representative on the Springer Health and Safety Committee, but disclosed that teachers were notified of the simulation a day or two ago and given instructions to follow during the exercise.

“It is unfortunate that things didn’t go entirely as planned, but we see these simulations, these drills as necessary. We are living in different times, and the well-being of, in many instances, the close to 1 000 children, especially in our secondary schools, [is becoming] increasingly difficult to secure,” she contended.

“The principal said that they will do a debriefing [Thursday] and determine what went wrong. I am truly [aware] that it is realised that persons are entering our school premises with weapons…and that is besides the students themselves who do that on a daily basis,” the union head said.

Redman contended that such was not far-fetched and, in fact, has happened already with parents going to attack teachers, and threatening the principals in some instances, she disclosed.

“And, therefore, such exercises are to help prepare for such occurrences. As I said, I think it is unfortunate because such exercises are necessary, both in terms of intruders and in terms of natural disasters,” she said.

The BSTU head also suggested that a proper security plan for schools must be worked by all stakeholders putting their heads together.

“We as a union have asked for a police presence, especially in schools where there is a [tendency] for the commission for violence…and interference from parents; a police presence in the form of the resident beat officer in the area who visits and interacts with the staff and students,” she suggested. ”It’s a problem that we have to sit down and work out a feasible response to.”

This issue has become the latest battleground for parent activists. Paula-Anne Moore, the spokesperson/coordinator for The Group of Concerned Parents of Barbados, described the simulation as appalling and called for heads to roll.

“I could not believe that it was true when I heard about the trauma and mental anguish inflicted on innocent children and their teachers without warning, in the form of a simulation,” Moore told Barbados TODAY. “This was a decision made by multiple agencies, apparently, based on news reports, and executed in a school where parents take their children with expectations that they will be kept from harm to the best of the authorities’ ability.”

She contended this approach to a security drill was against standard modern best practice, especially within a school environment.

Moore acknowledged that drills are important, but asserted that proper implementation with student care should be a basic consideration.

“This drill or simulation with strange men with ‘mock’ weapons at [Springer], if accurately reported, was callously inhumane and inhumane treatment of children and teachers. To inflict such trauma on children, without warning, is unconscionable. Cannot defend the indefensible,” she declared.

“But if we still have an education culture in 2023 which says it’s okay to traumatise children – or is it just certain children? – in order to teach them. And these are the same people to whom national education transformation is entrusted? Not a great confidence builder. Apologising and accepting responsibility or ‘taking one for the team getting thrown under the bus is commendable, but this should never have happened. Not in 2023.”

Moore said no counselling after the fact can remove the “unnecessary” mental and medical trauma to which the children were subjected.

She said: “Parents, don’t let anyone minimise what was done to your children. Heads should roll. The buck stops where? Once can be a mistake. Multiple poor events, oversights, [and] decisions relating to the management of our nation’s children are evidence of an embarrassing, worrying pattern.”

Felicia Dujon, a rights activist and the DLP’s third vice-president declared: “It is outrageous that the Ministry of Education would deem this type of simulation appropriate without informing parents.”

She urged parents to demand that those who participated in the drill be reprimanded.

Dujon said that the psychological harm that the students experienced can be devastating and traumatising.

She was quickly joined by DLP president Dr Ronnie Yearwood who complained about the impact the incident had on the students.

He called for Minister of Education Kay McConney and Archer-Bradshaw to be sacked.

“We have to get serious,” he said. “It is time for the Minister of Education and the Chief [Education Officer], it is time that they go and allow other persons to come in and do this job because they are obviously proving that this is beyond them.”

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

sheriabrathwaite@barbadsotoday.bb