Lockdowns after attack ‘hindered’
Untrained teachers, communication delays and aggressive parents threatening staff all hindered the lockdown in schools in the immediate aftermath of the Christchurch terror attack.
Schools, police and the Ministry of Education largely responded effectively as they sought to keep children safe in the hours after a gunman went on a rampage at two city mosques on March 15, a review has found.
But key lessons should be learned to prepare for any future lockdowns, including improving communication, providing better care and ensuring that schools are given more consistent guidance from authorities.
Ministry deputy secretary Katrina Casey said the safety and wellbeing of children was ‘‘paramount’’ and the department was ‘‘committed to working with schools, early learning services and police to respond to the opportunities for improvement’’.
Among the issues highlighted in the review, by audit firm KPMG, were:
■ More than 40 per cent of senior staff in schools and early learning centres had not been trained in or practised managing a lockdown;
■ Irrational behaviour by parents and caregivers – including banging on doors and threatening and even assaulting staff – created ‘‘significant stress’’ and forced some schools and centres to break their own lockdown procedures to let children out;
■ Initial communication between police and the ministry was delayed, leading to police having to contact schools and centres directly to trigger the lockdowns;
■ Some were not contacted at all because communication relied on the painstaking and slow process of emailing and calling each one directly;
■ Police often called the reception at schools and centres, leading staff to think the message was a hoax;
■ Delays in contact meant schools and centres, even those close to each other, went into lockdown at different times;
■ Only 60 per cent of schools and centres had used ministry guidance to create policies to manage a lockdown.
Among its recommendations, the report said technology could be used to improve the ‘‘efficient and timely communication to schools and early learning services’’. The physical logistics of schools and early learning centres ‘‘largely supported’’ an effective lockdown, it found, but access to toilets, better use of alarm systems, offering flexible learning environments and better access to medication, food and water would have all improved the response.