On April 12, MV encountered an event that the school had not experienced in many years: a Code Red lockdown.

Mrs. Melanie Andrews, MV superintendent, said, “The Mount Vernon Police Department dispatch office received a call from an unidentified person stating there were active shooters in our school.”

Staff immediately locked doors and got their students to safely hide in the classrooms. After about half an hour of lockdown, the Code Red was cleared, and classes resumed. MV later found out that the call received by the Police Department was fake, and many areas in the region received the same call.

“At that moment in time, I don’t think our staff could have reacted better. I couldn’t be more proud of anyone that day,” Mrs. Andrews expressed. 

From a student perspective, it was clear that the MV staff did a good job ensuring our safety and performing the proper protocol. After everything was clear, many students called for their parents to pick them up from school due to the emotional impact of the event.

Mrs. Andrews shared, “I wished more of our students had stayed at the high school but I do understand the trauma that could occur in people during these events.”

MV staff ensured that student services counselors were available to talk to support students who were experiencing trauma due to these events. 

“Let’s hope we don’t have events like this in the future. We are looking for things to improve on based on the insights from first responders,” Mrs. Andrews stated.

Overall, MV reacted appropriately. The high school learned a lot from this event and MV students should be proud to have a staff that ensured their safety on that day.