On Nov. 13, New Trier High School’s Winnetka campus received an inaccurate lockdown alert from the Raptor Alert App, a security platform connecting family and faculty in the event of an emergency. This marked the fifth emergency alert of the 2025-2026 school year and the third alarm complication.

The Nov. 13 Raptor lockdown alert was intended solely for the scheduled lockdown drill that was taking place at the Northfield campus. However, the notification alerted both campuses, sounding the phones of faculty during Winnetka’s advisery period. While the lockdown alarm was not triggered over the Public Address (PA) system, several advisories initiated a class lockdown.

“I basically threw my stuff and I just started following everyone else,” senior Sydney Taylor, whose advisery hid in their classroom’s closet, said. “My heart’s racing, I’m freaking out, [and] we’re sitting behind these large metal cabinets.”

Because some staff members were aware of the Northfield drill, knowing the alert was aimed toward the other campus, each advisery reacted differently to the announcement—some hid behind white boards while others continued as normal, sparking confusion amongst students. 

“My first thought was to text my sister, because my sister was in the building, and I told her there was a lockdown. I asked her, ‘Are you hiding? Are you okay?’ When she responded, she goes, ‘What do you mean lockdown? We’re not hiding,’” Taylor said. “So immediately I started to panic, because this is, in my mind, an actual lockdown. Why wouldn’t she be hiding? What if she was walking the halls? I was terrified.”

The Nov. 13 lockdown alert was the third of four various alarm complications first semester. On Nov. 11, a lockdown alarm sounded over the PA system shortly after the end of a scheduled lockdown drill, sparking confusion regarding if a true lockdown had begun. On Oct. 16, a scheduled fire drill occurred five minutes early during the passing period between second and third period, leading to hallway chaos as students looked for teachers holding blue check-in signs to sign-in with. On Dec. 10, a Raptor notification was sent to all staff members around six a.m. in the morning, waking faculty up. As students have experienced confusion differentiating drills, false alarms, and true emergencies, New Trier has been working to account for all system errors in order to protect students and staff. 

“We’re working with Raptor so that we don’t have accidents like that because [they’re] alarming,” Winnetka Campus Principal and Assistant Superintendent Denise Dubravec said. “I spoke to the security committee about that day [Nov. 13]. We talked about the evacuation as well as the lockdown and we [went] over what worked and what didn’t work.”

Physical Plant, Security, and Technology leaders meet every Tuesday to review safety procedures and contact vendors if any protocol needs to be adjusted. The Safety Committee meets quarterly to collect and implement feedback on safety procedures from families, faculty, and community members, according to New Trier’s Physical Safety Measures and Daily Procedures.

The school’s Safety Response Protocol (SRP) instructions for how to hold, secure, lockdown, evacuate, and shelter are listed in every classroom. Blue-card readers in the hallways allow faculty members to initiate a lockdown by scanning their IDs, and Callhawk phones are located in various classrooms to spread emergency information while encouraging communication. The Raptor Alert App, which New Trier started using two years ago, allows senior administrators to send out emergency announcements quickly and effectively. 

“If we’re in a lockdown and the PA system is down the hall and I’m in here [principal’s office], then I can communicate through a computer, but by setting this off [Raptor alert], people can get it right away,” Dubravec said. “It’s fast, and in these situations you want to be able to react in the moment as quickly as you can.”

The Raptor system’s main priority is to account for students, faculty, and visitors within the building. In the case of an emergency, staff members are able to check-in both their class roster and any additional students through the app, making sure that everyone is accounted for. This helps keep the reunification process smooth as students are placed back with their families individually. 

“It’s clear that the school is prioritizing and investing a lot of resources trying to improve our ability to know where students are and [ability] to communicate that students are in the school or with the school and safe,” social studies teacher Alexander Klein said. “I think the capabilities and the idea behind the Raptor system and the school’s investment in it is coming from a really good place.”

Like Taylor, Klein’s advisery also went into a lockdown during the false alarm on Nov. 13, shutting the blinds and locking their classroom door. Despite the confusion, he said he is confident in New Trier’s security team and the safety procedures put in place. 

“I think nothing’s ever going to be perfect,” Klein said. “I think people are trying to do the best job they can to make the school a safer place, and the technology employed to communicate through Raptor has had some issues, but I think they are issues that people are fairly open to talking about with an eye toward how it could be better for everyone.”

Dubravec acknowledged the emotional impact these false alarms may have on students and faculty. The school is working to support heightened anxiety by informing staff of drills in advance and encouraging teachers to have open conversations with their students. 

“We give as much lead time as possible before the drills,” Dubravec said. “We communicate with families, and that’s required for lockdowns. It’s the law. We give them [teachers] the script in advance so they can review it and know it themselves. Then if a family wants their child to opt out, they can actually opt out of a lockdown drill.”

After seven emergency alerts first semester, the school’s drills and alarms have helped the campus prepare for better future action. New Trier’s second semester safety days are approaching on Jan. 12-13, when all New Trier class periods will review safety protocols for their individual rooms. The school is looking to continue improving security and promoting campus safety. 

“The more you do it, the more people understand the technology,” Dubravec said. “I think we’re learning every time that we have to react to something [and] I think we’re getting better.”

Additional reporting by Gaia Saraf