PHOENIX — The Phoenix Union High School District has recently bought makeshift toilets and survival kits for future lockdown situations that require students to isolate inside classrooms for long stretches of time.
Earlier this month, the district's school board voted to spend $161,677 on purchasing lockdown kits from More Prepared LLC that include flashlights, blankets, food, a toilet, sanitation paper, first-aid supplies, and enough water for about 30 students.
The purchase appears to be in response to multiple incidents during the last school year that forced campuses to shut down as law enforcement investigated a dangerous situation.
Last May, a 15-year-old was arrested for bringing an AR-15-style rifle and ammunition to Bostrom High School.
Central High School was placed on lockdown in September 2022 so officers could investigate "popping sounds" allegedly heard on campus. The situation turned out to be an assault involving multiple students.
Betty Fairfax High School was also put on lockdown last year for reports of a gun on campus. But police reported not finding any firearms.
"With PXU having experienced three major incidents in the 2022-23 school year that involved the need for law enforcement to lockdown our campuses for hours at a time, I believe it is imperative that we purchase these products, so they are available at the start of the 2023-24 school year," Irene Diaz, the district's health and safety director, wrote in a statement.
The district made an emergency procurement on Aug. 3 for the kits so that every Phoenix Union classroom would have one in time for the start of the new school year.
The Phoenix school district is certainly not the first to resort to equipping classrooms with survival kits. Districts throughout the country have been buying portable bathroom supplies over the last decade in response to an increasing amount of lockdowns.