Does your child's school have lock down drills?

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Terra_Rosarum

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It’s a sad commentary on our times that now schools have to teach their students what to do in case there’s an armed intruder in the building.
Today I was working in the school library where I volunteer when the principal announced that there was going to be a lock down drill. Teachers were supposed to lock the classroom doors and students were to remain silent.
This reminded me of my own school days during the Cold War when we practiced air raid drills.
 
My last child graduated from high school a couple of years ago. When he was in elementary school, they practiced lockdowns, so yeah, it’s nothing new. I too remember air raid drills. Out in the hall, face the wall, hands covering your head.

🤷 Like that really would have helped. :rolleyes:
 
Yes, they do. I’ll have to ask DD about it now that she’s in a new building this year.

As someone who had to wait 4 hours without knowing if my Dad was dead or alive after a school shooting, I appreciate that they do the drills. It can happen anywhere and all should be as prepared as possible. We also do tornado and fire drills and I feel the same way about those. The more they practice the less chaos if they have to really act.
 
zea_maize said:
Yes, they do. I’ll have to ask DD about it now that she’s in a new building this year.

As someone who had to wait 4 hours without knowing if my Dad was dead or alive after a school shooting, I appreciate that they do the drills. It can happen anywhere and all should be as prepared as possible. We also do tornado and fire drills and I feel the same way about those. The more they practice the less chaos if they have to really act.
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Yes, and the more they have them, the more children get comfortable with the idea of doing them. Like you said, LS chaos. They know what to do. 👍
 
Our Catholic school does…but the children are not aware of them. It’s mostly instruction for the teachers to know what to do and what the code words are when they come over the intercom. (hint to Admin…kids are not stupid. They all know, and they all figured out the code word. :rolleyes: )
 
Our school has done lock down drills for years. Our district staff has undergone training in how to cope with an active shooter and the middle school and high school students have been trained in what to do as well. They’ve been told to always be aware of exits when you’re in a building and have a safety plan if it’s a place that you go regularly. They are told that if there is an active shooter they should act in this order,
  1. Flee to safety and call the police
    2)If escape isn’t possible, use furniture or whatever is available to barricade yourself. They’ve actually been taught how to put PVC pipe on the doo-hickey that closes the door slowly so it can’t open and put a chair in the door handle to make it even harder.
    3)If the shooter is already in the room, they’ve been taught to throw chairs, books, fire extinguishers, or whatever is available at him so as many people can escape as possible. A large group working together can often disorient a shooter to the extent that people can escape and may even be able to disarm a shooter.
It is a sad commentary on our times that kids have to learn this stuff, but I honestly think that everyone should know how to evaluate their choices in the case of an active shooter. I was in high school when Columbine happened and we were told to hide behind desks if a shooter was in the school. 🤷
 
The time they had a live “this is not a drill” lockdown at our children’s school, it was because there was a fugitive in the area and the local police wanted to be sure the person was kept out of the school. In other words, it isn’t only that a school may be an attractive primary target, but also because it is important to keep the children safe from anyone tempted to see a school as secondary target: that is, a source of hostages or a place to flee from police.The chances that the school was a target were very low, but the stakes were very high.

Yes, I’d say it is up there with fire drills. I would make them more “we have to get everyone out of the building in an orderly way” drills vs. “we need everyone to find a safe place in the building and stay there in an orderly way” drills.
 
Allegra said:
Our school has done lock down drills for years. Our district staff has undergone training in how to cope with an active shooter and the middle school and high school students have been trained in what to do as well. They’ve been told to always be aware of exits when you’re in a building and have a safety plan if it’s a place that you go regularly. They are told that if there is an active shooter they should act in this order,
  1. Flee to safety and call the police
    2)If escape isn’t possible, use furniture or whatever is available to barricade yourself. They’ve actually been taught how to put PVC pipe on the doo-hickey that closes the door slowly so it can’t open and put a chair in the door handle to make it even harder.
    3)If the shooter is already in the room, they’ve been taught to throw chairs, books, fire extinguishers, or whatever is available at him so as many people can escape as possible. A large group working together can often disorient a shooter to the extent that people can escape and may even be able to disarm a shooter.
It is a sad commentary on our times that kids have to learn this stuff, but I honestly think that everyone should know how to evaluate their choices in the case of an active shooter. I was in high school when Columbine happened and we were told to hide behind desks if a shooter was in the school. 🤷
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Your school sounds like it has a comprehensive approach to the issue. I was particularly interested in point 2) to allow more to escape and/or disarm a shooter.

Well prepared.

Mary.
 
Our school does fire, tornado, and lockdown drills. It makes me sad the way my oldest talks about them but I know the practice is a good thing.
 
MaryT777 said:
Your school sounds like it has a comprehensive approach to the issue. I was particularly interested in point 2) to allow more to escape and/or disarm a shooter.

Well prepared.

Mary.
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Yeah, that part is only being taught to the older kids because the experts still sort of disagree whether there is an age appropriate way to tell elementary kids to attack a bad guy. The little kids are basically being told to run like heck, scatter, jump the fence, and meet up in four “safe places” around the school. We take a walk a couple times a year to the “safe places” so the kids know where to go. This is completely different than what we were told after Columbine. We were supposed to passively hide in a room and hope the police got there before the shooter found us. Not really the best advice.
 
jlc2k2 said:
Our school does fire, tornado, and lockdown drills. It makes me sad the way my oldest talks about them but I know the practice is a good thing.
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There has not been a death in a school fire since the 50s, when after a fire killed several children in a Catholic school. After that, laws were passed requiring schools to have their alarms and sprinkler systems checked several times a year and require safety drills. It’s been over 50 years since a child died in a school fire because of those laws. So yeah, these drills are important.
 
Allegra said:
Yeah, that part is only being taught to the older kids because the experts still sort of disagree whether there is an age appropriate way to tell elementary kids to attack a bad guy. The little kids are basically being told to run like heck, scatter, jump the fence, and meet up in four “safe places” around the school. We take a walk a couple times a year to the “safe places” so the kids know where to go. This is completely different than what we were told after Columbine. We were supposed to passively hide in a room and hope the police got there before the shooter found us. Not really the best advice.
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I’m not sure what you mean by “attack a bad guy.” The police don’t even tell the general population of adults to do that

The other problem is the architecture of the individual school. Some are set up with barriers to keep adults from furtively entering the grounds that would prevent anyone who actually belongs at the school from fleeing the campus by any route other than by the front exits. You can get to a part of the playground that is far from a fire, but you cannot get off-campus without gate keys.
 
EasterJoy said:
I’m not sure what you mean by “attack a bad guy.” The police don’t even tell the general population of adults to do that

The other problem is the architecture of the individual school. Some are set up with barriers to keep adults from furtively entering the grounds that would prevent anyone who actually belongs at the school from fleeing the campus by any route other than by the front exits. You can get to a part of the playground that is far from a fire, but you cannot get off-campus without gate keys.
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Actually, they do recommend adults attack the bad guy in certain situations.

The current teaching is to Run, Hide, Fight. Adults are to run away if they can, as this is the safest option. If they are unable to exit the area, it is recommended to hide. Finally, if they are unable to hide OR run, they are told to fight.

This may be different in the case of schools teaching children, but it is the recommendation for adults.
 
EasterJoy said:
I’m not sure what you mean by “attack a bad guy.” The police don’t even tell the general population of adults to do that

The other problem is the architecture of the individual school. Some are set up with barriers to keep adults from furtively entering the grounds that would prevent anyone who actually belongs at the school from fleeing the campus by any route other than by the front exits. You can get to a part of the playground that is far from a fire, but you cannot get off-campus without gate keys.
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Actually, they do. If adults are cornered by a gunman, the current advice from law enforcement is to attack the adult by simultaneously throwing whatever objects are available and possibly tackling them. I’m not trying to imply that police encourage adults to hunt out bad guys and fight them on their own. This is only when they are cornered by someone who is an immediate threat.
 
jlc2k2 said:
Our school does fire, tornado, and lockdown drills. It makes me sad the way my oldest talks about them but I know the practice is a good thing.
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The school I teach I does, too. When I was a kid, we did air raid drills. Threats may fade away, but there are always threats.
 
EasterJoy said:
I’m not sure what you mean by “attack a bad guy.” The police don’t even tell the general population of adults to do that
.
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I will do whatever it takes to protect my students. I’m not permitted to conceal carry, so I’d have to resort to other means- any means necessary
 
We homeschool but we have drills of sorts. Fire, earthquakes. We’ve talked about shooters in church. As for drills, at least once a day a nerf gun fight breaks out in my house. So the kids do know how to duck.
Honestly, the best drill for a catastrophe is frequent confession.
 
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