Daughters school locked down this morning. Am I being irrational about it?

April 26, 2019, 05:58 PM

maladat

My 3-year old and 8-year old are in preschool and second grade at a PS-8th school.

A few months ago, outside a nearby high school, a student of that high school was shot and killed during school hours.

My daughters' school went into lockdown until more information became available. In the initial announcement to the students, the school informed the students that there was a dangerous situation away from the school but that they were going into lockdown to ensure safety, and that all doors would be locked and security posted outside.

Within less than five minutes of the lockdown starting, emails and text messages went out to all the parents using the school's emergency messaging system, notifying parents of the nearby shooting and that the school had gone into lockdown, locked all doors, and posted armed security at all campus entrances.

They took immediate, effective (if ultimately unnecessary) action while communicating clearly and reassuringly with faculty, students, and parents about the situation. No little kids were locked in rooms by themselves, terrified and not knowing what was happening.

May 07, 2019, 07:19 PM

Skins2881

quote:
Originally posted by 1967Goat:
quote:
Originally posted by radioman:
quote:
Originally posted by Maestro:

BEFORE the rash of school shootings, .......

In this climate of school violence, I would have handled the situation that you described MUCH differently.

What are you taking about?

Can you define statistically exactly how common this "Rash of school shootings" is that you speak of? I mean compared to other risks that kids face.

The way I see it, these are very rare events, and on the list of dangers to my 2 kids, I worry about a lot of other things before I worry about the "Rash of school shootings." Schools, for the most part, are a fairly safe place for kids to be.

On the top ten list of things that cause death to children, um, school shootings aren't anywhere near the top.

Yet school administrators and the "Demand Action" groups seem very quick to want to scare the kids (and to some extent the parents) into thinking their school is next, so my 3rd graders gets to ask me questions about when their school will be shot up.

I'd say more attention should be paid to accident prevention, and preventing teen suicide. But the school administrators seem to be worried about what the "Demand Action" people say they need to be worried about. And so, we get to hear terms like the "Rash of school shootings."

For the OP, it seems it was a bunch of adults on a power trip. Odd that the school has the right to do such a thing and detain everyone like that. Imagine if this happened anyplace else other than a school. People would never put up with it. But because it's a school and there are people with power over the kids, these things seem to happen. Is it a jail or a school?

I'm not sure I agree with the phrase, "Rash of school shootings", but I will say there have been 3 school shootings within a 10 mile radius of my house (Columbine HS, Platte Canyon HS and Arapahoe HS). The threat is real, at least here. It is on my mind from time to time. Last week there was a lockout at our local elementary school and they cancelled school for 1 day. My kids are in first and second grade.

What is with CO? Another one today. Hope it was no where near you.

May 07, 2019, 08:37 PM

Aquabird

I think the school handled it wrong. But it is my experience that schools tend to handle things wrong rather than right...at least in this area.
I worked at one for over 10 years and sent 4 kids thru schools and have relatives who have kids in schools.

They locked down a local school last years all because my nieces son told his "friends", when asked, that he got an AR 15 for Christmas. This was the first day back from Christmas vacation.

May 08, 2019, 08:55 AM

bigeinkcmo

It's definitely concerning as a parent with two kids in the local elementary school. STEM was about 6 miles south of me. My daughters were on lockdown and they made us wait it out for 1.25 hours outside, and part of that was through a thunderstorm. It happened around 2pm and my lockout text came after school let out at 2:45 (normally 2:43 release). So we left at 4pm soaking wet. Not too happy about that.

What my wife and I are starting to get alarmed with living here is just how many school shootings have happened so close to us. Not other shootings, just school shootings. I don't feel unusually unsafe just living here in CO but something is just not right with the number of shootings we've experienced in the south Metro. There's no doubt issues everywhere but in my mind I feel like this might be the straw the broke the camel's back for my wife and I.