Edmonton mom concerned after son gets locked out during a school lockdown

Watch above: An Edmonton parent wants her son’s school to change how it manages lockdowns after the 13-year-old was locked out of his school as police investigated a gun call. Fletcher Kent reports.

EDMONTON – An Edmonton mother wants lockdown policies at her son’s school to change after he and six of his friends were locked out during an emergency.

Ryan Bailey and six friends were outside taking photos for their media class on Wednesday, when police officers flooded the area. Four area schools were locked down following a report of a man with a gun breaking into homes.

The seven kids ran back to their school, Steele Heights Elementary in northeast Edmonton. But when they got to the doors, they were all locked.

“We were a little bit scared…yeah,” said Bailey.

He and the other locked out students ran to McLeod school nearby. But its doors were locked as well.

“There were no teachers at first,” Bailey added. “We were really scared after that.”

McLeod’s principal eventually saw the kids and opened the door. Bailey’s mother wants to know why her son’s school didn’t let the kids in.

Edmonton Public Schools says that although everybody did follow policy, this incident was unique.

“What they’re going to be doing at Steele Heights is just to review their own processes to make sure everybody understood. The principal was away so there might have been a little bit of – not breakdown – but lack of understanding,” said Jane Sterling on behalf of Edmonton Public Schools.

“I could understand there’s going to be things they’re going to miss. Nothing’s going to be perfect. This just shows their lockdown procedure isn’t perfect either,” said Bailey’s mother, Allison Yellowknee.

She thinks there should be head counts during lock downs, just like there are during fire drills.

“In this scenario, I don’t think they accounted for those seven children out there.”

With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News