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The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

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AHS JOURNALISM GOLD SPONSOR

AHS connection in Millard South shooting

by Anthony Robinson

The tragic shooting at Millard South filled the news on Wednesday, Jan. 5.   Despite the distance between AHS and Millard South, there is an unseen connection that walks the hallways each day.  Anne Chess, a junior at AHS, went to school at Millard South High School during her freshman year.

Vicki Kaspar, the assistant principal at Millard South, who died due to her injures suffered from the shooting, had a personal connection to Chess.  “There were four principles (at Millard South), and she was the nicest.  She actually cared for the students.”  Chess also said that Kaspar’s son was one of Anne’s teachers during her freshman year.

When Chess first heard the news of the shooting, she couldn’t believe her eyes and ears.  She said when she saw it in music history she was very “shocked.”  “Nothing happens like that (at Millard South),” she said.  “I was scared and afraid one of my friends got hurt.”

The Millard shooting raises the concern of some students at AHS about what to do if the high school got into a situation that puts lives on the line. “When my class was in 7th grade we had an intruder test alarm and that was the first and last one that I recall.,” sophomore Andrew Thielen said, “I don’t know if we would do that or if the students could even keep their cool during the scene.”

Some teachers have already brought up some ways that AHS is supposed to handle a possible intruder.  On the day after the Millard shooting, history teacher Tony Wiley told his students that the teacher is responsible for locking the door and who ever is closest to the windows is supposed to shut the blinds.  The remaining students are prompted to get into a group in the corner of the classroom out of sight from the door.

Just what would students do at AHS if something like this were to take place? Assistant principal Josh Rassmusen said, “We would follow our crisis management plan.”  Each teacher has a crisis management plan for such things as fires, bomb threats, or shootings, with step-by-step instructions on what to do in each situation.

With the Millard South shooting, both Rassmusen and principal Heather McKay agree that it would benefit the community to have a mock intruder drill in the future.  Rassmusen said, “We had a mock drill in the past, but it’s been a while.”  The drill would be beneficial to not only students at AHS, but also community as a whole.

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