Shenandoah County Schools Look to Improve LifeSpot App After Accidental Closure

QUICKSBURG, Va. (WHSV) – After three Shenandoah County public schools were accidentally put on lockdown Monday, a high school student opened up about her experiences that day and what she hopes can be changed to prevent this type of situation in the future.

Jaelynn Bair is an eighth-grade student at North Fork Middle School. NFMS, along with Ashby-Lee Elementary School and Stonewall Jackson High School, were placed on lockdown after a staff member accidentally pressed the lock button on the LifeSpot app. Bair said her school was placed on lockdown for more than 30 minutes before it was determined the lockdown was a false alarm.

“We were outside and our gym teachers ran in and told us to hide in the showers in the locker room. We were there for about 30, 40 minutes not knowing what was going on or what was happening,” Bair said.

Bair said that although the lockdown was an accident, it was still a terrifying experience as she and her classmates fear the threat of a school shooting.

“They separated us into separate locker rooms and we were stuck in a corner of the showers that were all around us. From my perspective, almost every side of me was crying, fearing for their lives,” Bair said. “My gym teacher was with us and talked to us on Wednesday about what happened on Monday. She said she survived the Bridgewater College shooting, but she had been through three lockdowns. So I think she understood how scared we were because she was scared too: she told us she was scared, she told us she would protect us with her life during the lockdown.”

Like most Virginia school districts, Shenandoah County Public Schools is considering a stricter cellphone policy that will require students to keep their phones turned off and in their backpacks throughout the school day.

Bair said she believes the policy could create problems in an emergency and that it could be very stressful for her parents because she and her twin brother attend the same school.

“If this was real and we were hearing gunshots and stuff like that, I would want to text my parents and let them know what was going on,” Bair said. “I feel like if I was them — and they said this too — they would want to know that we were OK, not just a robocall or a text.”

Bair said she understands the need for strict cellphone policies, but believes there should be exceptions for emergencies.

“I think we should all have our phones with us in case of an emergency, but we shouldn’t have them in the classroom,” Bair said. “Just have them with us—not off, but on silent or on do not disturb so they’re not distracting us in the classroom.”

WHSV spoke with David Hinegardner, assistant director of administrative services and strategic planning at SCPS, on Friday. He said SCPS is working with LifeSpot to implement protocols that will prevent accidental lockdown alerts.

Hinegardner said the school employee who accidentally triggered the lock was trying to update the app at school, so one possible change would be to require app updates to be done off-site.

Hinegardner also said that when considering a new cellphone policy, the Shenandoah County School Board is also considering including exceptions for cellphone use in emergency situations.