Tragic lesson from Texas causes change to PSD safety plan

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, August 10th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – Pendleton School Superintendent Kevin Headings came away impressed with the InterMountain Education Service District’s school safety summit, including the plan worked out specifically for Pendleton educators and law enforcement officers to follow.

The safety summit held Monday was a chance to share the plans with new employees as well as go over it as a refresher for other officials. The goal of the plans is to make sure law enforcement and educators share the same language as they work together to respond to potential emergencies.

“I was really impressed with how thorough, tight, and detailed Pendleton School District safety plans are,” Headings said.

The superintendent also said that plans like these constantly need tweaking based on lessons learned from tragic events, like having someone in each building making sure all the doors but the front door are closed.

“That’s what happened in Euvalde,” he said. “There was a door in the back of the building that was left open. So, something as simple as that – just having one person responsible for that, and if they’re not there, having a backup plan can make a difference.”