You open Snapchat. Wait. Is someone holding a bomb? Is it a grenade?

What are we going to do? Why hasn’t anyone done anything? Do I say something?

2:35 p.m.– Fire alarms sounded. Students walked outside on Jan. 25 thinking that it was a fire drill during homeroom.

“We had issues with the phone system and the intercom system is tied to it. I was concerned I could get into mid-sentence and maybe information would not be said,” principal Tim Hamblin said. “And we were directly being told by law enforcement to evacuate the building and, at that point, we can’t take a kid’s word for it if it’s not real. We can’t risk that, so a decision was made then, pull the fire alarm.”

2:51 p.m. — Derby High School is being evacuated due to a suspicious device being investigated. 

“As soon as we evacuated the building knowing the time of the day I called transportation and asked if there was any way we could start sending buses up,” Hamblin said.

But so many questions arose as students and staff. For those brief moments, it meant immediate danger.

“I immediately informed the district, my superintendent,” Hamblin said. “What happens at that point is the director of communications is then called in and they start crafting a message to get out to parents as quickly as possible.”

3:30 p.m. – Skylert notified that it was an inactive grenade to parents and guardians. 

Since then students and staff have been concerned about the safety of the high school.

DHS has 2,187 students. With four members of security, two School Resource Officers, that’s a ratio of 364-1.

“If we are going to do anything to improve security, it’s getting more security staff,” security staff member Paul Burke said.

But what about metal detectors? Wichita public schools just purchased some for their schools. Maybe more cameras?

“Where do we draw the line between school and prison?” Burke asked. “We want the school to feel safe, but at a certain point it starts to feel like a prison if we add more security technology.”

Sophomore Lacey Baney agreed.

“I don’t think people would be dumb enough to bring things that would cause a need for metal detectors,” Baney said. “I think if they were to (add metal detectors), it would just add to the stress of school and make it feel more prison-like.”

Metal detectors are expensive, along with adding staff to run them. Would they be at all the entrances? Just the two main entrances?

In a survey of 30 teachers, 23 said more security staff is needed.

“It’s way too easy for students to do whatever they want because there aren’t enough people to watch them,” airbrush teacher Roger Scovell said.

Junior Eli Gibbs agreed.

“I think to improve security we need more cameras and more security people,” Gibbs said. “There are so many things that could be stopped if there were more people.” 

The security staff checks locked doors as much as possible throughout every period even then things are still happening.

“We just have so many exit doors. If somebody just wanted to walk out, they pretty easily could do that,” security officer Keith Watkins said.

More staff could help prevent kids from walking out or skipping class.

When issues arise without the necessary staff, panic could evolve.

“The job can be stressful sometimes, but I think we handle everything pretty well,” Burke said. “We haven’t had any major problems or incidents besides recent events.”