New K-8 school 'intruder drill'

C

chris in va

New member
Thought I'd share this.

My friend has a daughter in the 7th grade that attends a 'choice' school here in town. Basically it's a private/public thing where only the better achievers can attend.

Today they had an Intruder Drill. An announcement was made on the PA, and all kids in each classroom were instructed to get into a corner away from view of a window/door and be quiet as a mouse, even to the point of stifling sneezes. The door was also locked. My friend (who was there at the time) said all the kids were eerily silent and it took about 5-10 seconds for the kids to take their place.

The theory is some jackass with a gun would walk around looking for kids to shoot, checking classrooms and hallways. If it were a live call, a code would go out instead of Intruder over the PA...ie Code One, etc.

Things are getting scary.
 
That's sad...

I feel sorry for kids these days. I remember worrying about a lot of things in school, but not about a gunman coming on campus. I will pray for your daughter and her school, as I do for all the kids.
 
I went to school before the "duck & cover" drills and my kids have missed the "intruder" drills. I have grandkids, however, who might get caught up in this latest fright. It is frightening to the kids to realize that the adults, to whom those kids have given so much trust, feel they are not allowed to protect them.

I have been asked this very question by kids I have in my care every day. They trust me to protect them and I know they feel I will do my best, should the need arise. However, I feel pretty naked out there, and we are in a fairly safe environment. Country living is pretty isolated from the troubles of more heavily populated areas, but violence takes only one person who is insane enough to visit harm on fellow citizens.

Pops
 
So much for the good old fire drill where we all lined up and hung out at the basketball court. School is a scary place. Perhaps we should all consider home schooling our kids.
 
No different from fire or nuclear attaack drills. Still pretty sad that schools have to do this. Kudos to your kid's school for having the foresight to have such contingencies in place though.
 
I teach in a small rural community high school. We have had a code for intruders for 2 years. A seemingly routine announcement signals everyone to quietly secure the students in locked classrooms.
 
I'm glad to see the schools formulating a response. Thank goodness they are addressing the issue.

That being said, the focus should be on escape, not hiding and hoping a nut job with a gun does not find you. Has anyone thought of installing automated firedoors? They could serve a dual purpose of isolating the shooter to one area the same as they do with a fire. Fire ladders could be used to escape from second story classrooms. Teachers should be taught to break out windows, clear the glass and get the kids outside. The kids need to be taught to run for cover while zigzagging.

Much more can be done besides teaching teachers and pupils to hide and wait for rescue or death.
 
Sad but needed........

It is a sad day when kids have to hide in silence and hope they aren't killed in a classroom. I remember being a kid - those tornado drills........freightened the living hell out of us. I can't even begin to think what it's like to add a drill like that to a youngster....... Sad but needed..........
 
In the "hick" school that I went to, I don't remember anyone being so afraid that they had to do these kinds of drills.

But, I guess it was a more "simplier" time. During hunting season, more then one PU truck had rifles in the racks. Sometimes even :eek: handguns that were used as backup (killing shot if the deer or whatever was still alive when tracked).

All of us had dreaded knives. Momlypeg (never thought that I would have to spell that game) and other games with knives were played on a daily basis. For "hicks" our finger nails were awfully clean, and usually done during class.

This was in the late 80's, I graduated in 1987, not that long ago.

So, is it the guns that have changed? The knives? The access to each or the other? No, it's the culture, it's the parenting, it's the drugs that are forced fed to the children.

I can't think of anyone in my school that was on any drugs (legal, we did have some on illegal, MJ mostly). Sure, we had folks that were spases(sp), we had "weird" folks (hey, I was one of them), we had the bullies (that stayed well away from the "weird" folks and the "brains" of whom were the same), and we had every "click" known today (with the exception of the gangs).

It's a sad day for sure, but they are attacking the wrong thing and overlooking, or ignoring, the true causes of what is happening.

Wayne
 
chris,

I wonder if the principals or superintendents all had some sort of inservice or conference over Spring Break.....we haven't had any drills, as such, but we had a big discussion in a faculty meeting the other day about our 'code word' for a lock down.

Granted, we're on the other side of the beltway, but I wonder if they have some sort of regional administrative meetings :confused:

Might just be coincidence too! ;)
 
Wouldn't an armed security guard or 2 be better?

Or how about a few teached carrying concealed?

It's a great country when your kids have to practice hiding at school to avoid being shot. The one doing the shooting would probably be another student, so he'd know the trick.
 
The one doing the shooting would probably be another student, so he'd know the trick.
Click to expand...

Never thought about that. rlpinca is right.

But, still a sad time we live in. And it's not the guns or the so called availibility of that is causing this. America needs to cure the cause and not just give a placbo in hopes of curing the cause.

Wayne
 
The cure would be to knock the piss out of the psycologists that convinced everyone to be nice to their kids and to tell them you are dissapointed in them instead of beating the crap out of them.

When you were growing up and you messed up, you got the snot beat out of you. How many school shootings were there 20 years ago?

Now parents try to be friends with their kids and look at how society is.
 
This idea must be getting circulated somehow, our K-8 school is having a lockdown drill tomorrow. I think it's a pretty good idea, get the kids out of the (direct or indirect) line of fire as fast as possible, without mayhem or having to go out & herd them in one at a time. Once they are secured in a classroom, they are 99.9% safe, those doors are inpenetrable. In the unlikely event that the SHTF it's a damnsight better then having 100's of kids standing around in crowds gawking because they heard a pop or saw some commotion. I remember the air raid drills of the cold war era- we were told what & why but it didn't scare anyone in the least, we just practiced the drills & went on about life.

Oh, and to the last poster, "beating the crap out of" a kid is clearcut child abuse by any standard. Restrained & reasonable corporal punishment is debatable in most circles, accepted in some.
 
I'm not talking about punching a kid by saying beating the crap out of them, just a good whoopin.

How many gangs were there when kids got their a$$es whooped in school and by their parents as opposed to now?

How many kids were stealing cars and dealing drugs then and now?

How many kids had the balls to smart off to or not listen and respect their parents, then and now?

School shootings then and now?



I think it's an iffy idea for these lock yourselves in a room drills. If a kid goes nuts and starts shooting up the school, a handfull will get shot when everyone stampeds out of the school and runs for their lives. What if the kid with the gun gets into a class room? Then the number goes up considerably from the "run for your life method."
 
My son will start school this fall. We are rural but I know something like this could happen anywhere. Wasn't there a school shooting in Mississippi a few years ago that was stopped by a vice principal getting a Colt Officer's ACP from his vehicle and putting an end to the rampage? We need that kind of response!

I also seem to remember reading that the worst school violence incident wasn't any of the recent shootings, but a bombing back in the 20's or 30's.
 
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