Hello to all –
We had a very busy day yesterday at GHA. Last evening, while the students were experiencing Open House class sessions, a phone call came into one of our contact numbers we believe now was a hoax. As I stated at the Opening Ceremony, we take the care of our students – your children – very seriously, and we had to treat the call as fact.
We followed procedures and ran a drill to make sure all students were safe, sound, and where they needed to be. At 10:00 PM we “locked down” the dormitories according to the safe schools policies and procedures. Now this lock down sounds severe, but in reality the students were ensconsced in their air-conditioned suites about 45 minutes earlier than normal – with their cell phones, computers, and ipods.
The female students were informed the procedure was a drill and fifteen minutes later were informed by their RAs the drill was over, and they were safe. Because the phone call indicated a male student was involved, the boys dormitory was pulled for a meeting stating what was happening and asking any student with any issues to please see the staff.
The boys were then sent to their suites for the evening.
In the lobby standing guard for the night were the Director of the Governor’s Schools Sherry Keffer, Resident Director & Associate Dean Thomas Knotts, Associate Dean Robbie Brown and me. As we had hoped, the phone call was a prank. Although we are very tired this morning (also a bit grumpy and totally miffed), we are pleased at how all students and staff responded to the situation. The GHA family are all safe and sound today.
Tonight the students are gearing up for the Sandy Sowell Game Show and tomorrow will be geo-caching on campus. We continue to move forward with events, classes and activities. Think good thoughts for cooler weather!
--Dean Saralyn Dague
