ELLICOTT — Ellicott School District 22 Superintendent Chris Smith said the district's communication to parents and guardians during a school lockdown on Thursday was a "complete failure."
The superintendent said the entire district campus in Calhan was placed on lockdown around 8:45 a.m. after the high school principal alerted him about a report of a missing gun inside a vehicle on school grounds. He said the gun was reported to be in the vehicle overnight, but gone in the morning. Superintendent Smith would not clarify who made the report around 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning, but said the gun has not yet been found.
“Our students were already on the buses to go to school by the time we received the report, so I couldn't cancel school," said Smith. "So, the decision was to get students in school, get everybody on a heightened sense of alert, meet with my administrators, and then make a plan."
During the lockdown, the superintendent said El Paso County Sheriff’s Office deputies helped the district secure and search the premises and students' backpacks at the elementary, middle, and high schools. Superintendent Smith said the decision to go on lockdown was made to keep students in one place while officials ensured there wasn't a weapon on school grounds.
The superintendent said the lockdown was communicated to parents via text message around 9:15 a.m. However, he said some parents had already shown up at the schools after receiving texts from their children. A concerned viewer reached out to News5 saying, "It was a very difficult day for kids, teachers and parents that were notified through the news before the school notified parents."
Superintendent Smith admitted that lapses in communication about changing evacuation plans and incident details to parents were a "failure" on the district's end. He said the district did not have enough resources to communicate what was happening with the community while making sure students were safe and accounted for. The superintendent posted details of the incident on the district's Facebook page around 10 p.m. Thursday.
"In a rural school, I am the safety director. I am the information officer," said Superintendent Smith. "We don't have the resources or the army of people to let them be dedicated in just managing the flow of information right, which is ideal, and it's a valuable thing, don't get me wrong. But the way funding is right now it is not available to us, and so we are constantly in a struggle of making sure that we do it with the resources that were provided."
He said in the future, the district plans to post evacuation procedures on its website to make sure everyone is on the same page during emergencies. He also said the district is working to make sure all family emergency contact information is up to date.
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