Children should not have to think like this

[torinsmom]

You just sold me on the whole idea...

I've worked in the commercial construction industry, specifically doors and hardware. There is no way any school district that I know of can afford bullet resistant doors and glass. (Nothing is ever bullet proof.) They're ridiculously priced. That's pretty much out of the question.

Also, I can't remember who asked... but all doors have to open (swing out) to the outside for fire safety reasons. That's why (in most cases) all doors open into the hallway. It also creates barriers for people zigzagging down the hall to get out.

Our doors to the hallway actually open IN at our school. The outside doors swing out.

 

[Jennasis]

You just sold me on the whole idea...

I've worked in the commercial construction industry, specifically doors and hardware. There is no way any school district that I know of can afford bullet resistant doors and glass. (Nothing is ever bullet proof.) They're ridiculously priced. That's pretty much out of the question.

Also, I can't remember who asked... but all doors have to open (swing out) to the outside for fire safety reasons. That's why (in most cases) all doors open into the hallway. It also creates barriers for people zigzagging down the hall to get out.

I have never been in a school or any building where room doors opened out INTO a hallway. Doors always open INTO the room.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I have never been in a school or any building where room doors opened out INTO a hallway. Doors always open INTO the room.

I'm pretty sure they did in my high school. I can remember people holding doors open by leaning on them and they were in the hallway.

I could be wrong though. I also thought I turned left into the fair a few days ago and turned the wrong way out, taking us on the "scenic" route home.

 

[GagesMama]

I have never been in a school or any building where room doors opened out INTO a hallway. Doors always open INTO the room.

I wasn't trying to start a war here. Just giving information I know about a question previously asked. In our state (Florida), the fire code reads that in order to leave a building from a room located somewhere inside, all doors have to be pushed to exit since it takes less time than pulling. It also depends on fire walls (made to withstand internal fires) and other variables. I know a lot of older buildings are grandfathered in, but even in the high school I attended (built in the 50s-60s) the doors opened into the hallway.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I have never been in a school or any building where room doors opened out INTO a hallway. Doors always open INTO the room.

The doors at my kids' school all open outwards. Although there aren't any halls at their school - they all open to the outside.

 

[ten6mom]

This is what the kids at my sons school (k-5) are being taught and I admit that while it unnerves me to think about, I think it's the right approach.

1. Get out (most of hte classrooms have emergency exits)
2. If they can't get out, then lock the door, turn off the lights, and sit quietly by the wall.
3. If the shooter (or whoever) gets in the room anyway, then they are to pick up whatever they can find and throw it at the persons head.

I have two boys in elementary school and my younger son was in kindergarten last year. This #3 made me cry. Also when I think of the teacher that lied to the shooter to protect her students I cry.

I think the difference nowadays is that back then we were conditioned to accept IMPERSONAL threat. The weather, or even the Soviets, were not out to get us specifically. Nowadays the things kids worry about is people targeting their school specifically.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Sadly, this is the reality our little ones must face. They need to know, this is "normal"...and not to panick or be afraid.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

What I'm thinking is a class where someone had been hurt or shot would put out the red card afterward. The police would check rooms without either card as well. I've basically said if there is a real lockdown, I'm not putting out a card to advertise we are in the room.

What I think schools need is bullet proof windows all around. Then they need a lobby area that is cut off from the rest of the school by steel doors that lock. Visitors could be buzzed through that door. The office should have a silent alarm like banks that would alert police, but also send a signal to classrooms to alert them to an intruder.

Of course, all this costs money. In NC, we can't even afford assistant teachers. And some schools in our district don't even have the buzz in system for front doors.

Our red cards are always "out". They hang from the windows. In the case of a true emergency, if everyone in your class is accounted for, you change it to green.

 

[Atlas722]

In November 1975 when I was a high school freshman, my high school received a bomb threat.

 

[GotLabradors]

As a teacher, I have a plan in my head for this very situation. I'm sure most teachers have thought it through at least once in their careers. My first priority is to get my kids to safety. Luckily, the kids in my school are quick to give info about weapons or threats to the school and teachers are notorious for interrogating strangers w/o proper identification. At the end of the day, we all want to go home to our families.

 

[glammadiva]

Are any of you old enough to have done an air raid drill in school in the 60's?

Yep! Sure did! And as a military brat grew up with bomb threats and terrorist threats and bombings during our overseas tours.

 

[scrapquitler]

I have a question about bulletproof doors and windows...I keep seeing people say that schools should have bulletproof doors and windows, but wouldn't that be MORE dangerous if there were a fire?? I just keep picturing a fire in school and children trapped in a classroom, with the fire department unable to get into or children unable to get out of a classroom because all the glass in the windows (usually almost a whole wall in every classroom here) is unbreakable. Am I wrong?

 

[DVCJones]

I have a question about bulletproof doors and windows...I keep seeing people say that schools should have bulletproof doors and windows, but wouldn't that be MORE dangerous if there were a fire?? I just keep picturing a fire in school and children trapped in a classroom, with the fire department unable to get into or children unable to get out of a classroom because all the glass in the windows (usually almost a whole wall in every classroom here) is unbreakable. Am I wrong?

Hmm. Just ask yourself when was the last time a child died in a fire at school.

Then ask yourself when was the last time a child died in a school shooting.

When there is a fire, we are taught through numerous fire drills, to get OUT!!! In the case of a school shooting, we teach kids to lock themselves inside with the threat. This is crazy to me.

We should be training kids and faculty to get out if they can. Hide and barricade if they can't get out. Lastly, fight back as a last resort. But NEVER EVER be a sitting duck waiting for your bullet!!!

 

[GagesMama]

I have a question about bulletproof doors and windows...I keep seeing people say that schools should have bulletproof doors and windows, but wouldn't that be MORE dangerous if there were a fire?? I just keep picturing a fire in school and children trapped in a classroom, with the fire department unable to get into or children unable to get out of a classroom because all the glass in the windows (usually almost a whole wall in every classroom here) is unbreakable. Am I wrong?

I don't know any school board that could afford a wall of bullet resistant glass. It's crazy expensive. It will never happen. Same with doors.

 

[luvmy3]

We should be training kids and faculty to get out if they can. Hide and barricade if they can't get out. Lastly, fight back as a last resort. But NEVER EVER be a sitting duck waiting for your bullet!!!

When our schools have lockdowns, they have the kids line up along the wall that the door is on and all the windows have covers that the pull down. I suppose its so the person would not be able to see them if he was looking in the room. They don't just sit at their desks here.
I'm not sure what happens in the cafeterias though as some of them have doors on parallel walls.

My kids have been doing lockdown drills for years, and they don't phase them. However when there is a real threat, it is a different story.
Just last week the neighboring district was in lockdown because that guy who shot the employee of the lamp store car was found in our area. Our district didn't do lockdown, but the kids were not allowed outside at all during the school day. My youngest came home and while he didn't admit it he was kind of shaken up.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Our little guy was in kindergarten last year when the grammar school shootings occurred. We really struggled with what to tell him. Our schools had some threats in the days just afterwards and the school was on a planned lock down the last day before Christmas break. Most parents choose not to send their child to school. We did not send ours. We did however decide to talk to him in this way. We discussed fire drills and how even though they had never had a fire, they still practiced how to stay safe. We then talked about lock downs and how at one school the lock down was real. We did not tell him about all the 1st graders that was killed, but we told him about this one little boy that had done exactly what his dad had taught him to do and he stayed safe. He did not ask if anyone had been hurt so we did not tell him. Had he asked, we would have been honest. We talked about what to do if a bad guy came into the school, and to hide, and we talked about places to hid in his room. We discussed telling his friends what to do and how important it would be to be silent and obey his teacher. We told him if he could not hid, to at least get under his desk and lie so still that no one would see or hear him. It was not a fun talk, but we felt the need to empower him rather than scare him. As I was discussing the issue with a church friend as we discussed how to address our kids, he asked me, "how would you feel if the unthinkable DID happen and you had not discussed it and he had no clue how to have the best chance to survive." He took it all very seriously, but did not seem traumatized at all.

 

[Atlas722]

Are any of you old enough to have done an air raid drill in school in the 60's?

Me, my brother, and our sister are. My brother says he remembers it but I don't.
The elementary school the three of us attended had the shelter in the basement, with the signs at the school's east and west entrances.