Officer John R. Lucey met with the Triton High School students on Wednesday, March 21st to introduce his goal of making the Triton District a safer place.

“The foundation of our policies have not changed. We just improve them every year,” said Lucey.  “So basically we have a very strong foundation and we always have since I started here. I think we’re definitely prepared. We have all the support in the area. We have: police departments, fire departments, highway departments, we have a very good team put together.”

Officer Lucey, accompanied by Sergeant Stephen Jenkins, from the Newbury Police Department, held an assembly to address and teach safety procedures to the  students and staff here at Triton.

Many different scenarios were brought up by both officers, some including, fire drills, lock downs, and other advice on what to do in dangerous situations. With the recent incidents that have occurred, we can never be more prepared and aware than now.

This assembly addressed many problems on how to handle yourself and others in several given scenarios. Senior Sydney Accomando had her own opinion about the assembly. “It was good in the way they got everyone together to provide a place to talk about these things; but I feel like they should have allowed us to ask more questions on what were concerned about because they kind of avoided it,” said Accomando.

Triton’s goal is to work together, district wide, including with the middle school and all elementary schools. The safety committee works towards this goal with the procedures they were trained with, known as, Avoid, Deny, Defend.

Avoid, Deny, Defend, is based off of looking out for each other and yourself. You need to know to Avoid the situation, if possible, Deny the person’s accessed to you, and Defend yourself if that’s what it comes down to. See something, say something.

Each member at Triton has a role in any dangerous situation at any given time. Being prepared is a major key. The staff members higher up play a crucial role in keeping everyone stable and getting out of the problem.

“My role is, I can’t leave the building until everybody is safe. I’m the last person out. I’m the buffer between them and you. I call the lockdown, I let people know via walkie talkie and once the police come they take control,” said High School Principal Timothy Ruggere, “But I have a responsibility of letting people know and making sure I receive and give this information.”

All doors at the school remain locked and students or staff shouldn’t let anyone in. The way visitors may enter is through the main entrance and straight to the office. All this after they are let in through a buzzer.

“It’s one of those things you hope to never know. We always have to be prepared and we are but if something bad happens you never know who it’s gonna be, when it’s gonna be or how its gonna go down,” said Ruggere again.

The safety committee works together to be trained for any given situation. When preparing the school for these we have drills that are chosen. The committee chose theses days on the least disruptive time. For example, they wouldn’t choose a day where MCAS is held or a day near the end of the quarter, according to Ruggere.  

“I am a member of the safety committee so most of the time I am aware of them,” said high school nurse Mary Goldsmith.

Even though our goal is to stay safe and all help each other, many students have their own choice to do as they want and what they believe is best for them instead of following the planned rules. Juniors Erin Drew and Lynn Wideberg speak their minds.

“We already knew the stuff they told us, so it was kind of pointless. We should’ve done a drill a lot earlier in the year when we may have needed it,” said Drew.

“It was stupid because if anything were to ever happen I would follow my gut not any planned procedures,” said Wideberg.

The safety assembly was held after staff members were ready to address these problems. Safety measures will be practiced in the future. Triton High School is in good hands.