On Friday, Sept. 22, a lockdown alarm was triggered at the beginning of first period. When it ended, Assistant Principal of Operations Steve Parnther informed the school that the lockdown alarm was activated by mistake, and gave the building the all clear. No suspicious activity was reported.
The announcement left many students and faculty jarred, especially considering that West rehearsed lockdown procedures in a drill less than 24 hours prior. Some experienced anxiety and stress.
“I got really nervous really fast because we just had [a drill] yesterday, and this one definitely did not feel like a drill,” Special Education teacher Sean DeFelice said.
Both Dean Larry Waites and Principal Jeremy Christian denied the presence of suspicious activity and confirmed the lockdown alarm resulted from a malfunction in the intercom system.
Shortly after Parnther’s announcement giving the all clear, Principal Christian addressed the school over the intercom. He asked everyone to have a great day before reminding students and staff to follow the Niles West Wolves 219 Instagram and to attend the football game against Niles North.
“I wanted to bring them comfort in knowing that ‘hey, today we had a false alarm this morning, I wanna make sure you’re safe but also that you enjoy the rest of the day. I know today is a big day for us, it’s my first North v [versus] West game, so I wanted to make sure that the students felt comfortable enough to still go to the game, go to the assembly, and not feel as though there is a threat,” Christian said. “If there was a serious concern, you would hear me saying ‘students, I need you to do this now, this is not a game, this is not a joke.”
At 8:24 a.m., Parnther emailed students and parents to inform them of the false alarm and deny rumors concerning suspicious activity. The school also reached out to Interstate and Access Matters, the companies who maintain the intercom system.
“We’ve put in a call with them, and I want to speak with them immediately. I want to make sure that this doesn’t continue to happen,” Principal Christian said.
Although this was a serious matter, it was also reportedly an accident.
“I think mistakes happen and I’m glad it was a mistake. I’m glad that Parnther came on and said everything was safe, but in the moment, I feel everyone was scared,” Social Studies teacher Scott Baum said.
Security Guard Danita Pope was in the girls locker room when she heard the announcement.
“I was startled for a minute but then I heard it again so I grabbed the girls and said ‘let’s go back in the locker room’ ‘I locked the doors when they all got in,” Pope said.
At 1:30 p.m., Principal Christian sent a final email to the Niles West community apologizing for the morning’s occurrence.
“We are sorry! I am sorry! There are no other words that can describe how I feel about the false alarm this morning. The false lockdown announcement caused significant confusion among students, staff, and parents. I apologize. Those are two words that I use to express our sentiments from this morning’s false lockdown alarm. It is unacceptable,” Christian wrote in the email. The email also included commitments to taking full responsibility and investigating the matter.
This incident marks the second inadvertent lockdown since October 22, 2019, when administration accidentally triggered a lockdown while intending to call bingo numbers over the intercom.
