Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary Principal Todd Holthaus and H-BC Superintendent Dave Deragisch are pictured at the front entrance of the school in Beaver Creek Monday.By Jolene FarleyDoors remain locked and extra safety precautions in place at the Beaver Creek elementary school as law enforcement in Minnesota and South Dakota continue to search for jail escapee Jason Lee Heasley.Classes weren’t scheduled Thursday or Friday due to the annual Minnesota Education Association convention, so all involved hoped Heasley would be found over the long weekend.But, since he remains at large, classes resumed Monday under the same lockdown status.School officials received a call around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, from Rock County Law Enforcement that 29-year-old Heasley was potentially headed to the Beaver Creek school. "They (law enforcement) said an individual that had escaped from a Beadle County jail had notified another party that he was heading for Beaver Creek and he had a gun," said Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary Principal Todd Holthaus. Heasley reportedly has a child attending the Beaver Creek school and either an ex-girlfriend or ex-wife living in Beaver Creek.Heasley, considered armed and dangerous and missing from the jail in Huron, S.D., is facing drug and burglary charges. After the phone call from law enforcement, school officials implemented the district’s emergency plan. Elementary staff was alerted by the use of a code word over the intercom system, that the school was in lockdown status."We have a great policy in place," Holthaus said. "We had spoken about this (the plan) with the staff and we were prepared."Ironically, the emergency plan, first implemented in 1999 and revised in 2001, was scheduled for another review last Wednesday. "We were just planning on reviewing that policy that afternoon," said Superintendent Dave Deragisch.The policy apparently doesn’t need tweaking. "It worked wonderfully," said Holthaus. "Everybody knew what to do."During lockdown status, all entrances to the school are locked, and students aren’t allowed to leave their classrooms for recess.At lunchtime and when large numbers of students are moving around, staff members watch all exits and entrances to the building. Throughout the day, staff members patrol the halls. Students who live in town aren’t permitted to walk home after school alone, but are driven in staff members’ vehicles. Last Wednesday, deputies patrolled the area and Rock County Sheriff Mike Winkels visited with school officials for two hours in the afternoon "to give an update on what they knew." No sightings of Jason Lee Heasley have been reported as of press time, according to Winkels. Winkels said remaining in lockdown status is the decision of the Hills-Beaver Creek school administration.Winkels thinks the decision is wise. "I would recommend it," he said. "It is better to err on the caution side."The students seem to be taking the situation in stride, he said, reporting that they were calm and did what they were supposed to do last week. Holthaus said parents have been supportive. "We’ve tried to keep them as informed as possible," he said.A note was sent home Wednesday to all parents with the information available to the school at the time. The school has received no calls from concerned parents."I think as parents, they are getting used to the doors locked; they are becoming appreciative of keeping their kids safe," Deragisch said."We have to be prepared, we have to do what we have to do to make sure our kids are safe."
