School Lockdowns in Emergency

[sandramaac]

I am president of our school's PTA. At our meeting the other night, we talked about the lock down drill the kids practiced the other day. Before it was done, and still to a certain extent, because of possible intuder in the school. Now the ramifications are very different. In the case of a biological or chemical threat, civil emergency, the school will be locked down--this mean no one in, or no one out. NO ONE!! If there is some threat, the kids may be kept for days. The schools have even prepared by stocking, water and food.

I suppose I understand this. My head can rationalize it, my heart knows its what has to be done. But my instincts just cannot process the fact that I absolutley cannot get my kids. I am not some doomsday person, but I am horrfied by the fact that my kids will not be protected by me. For the first time I was reallly scared about all the stuff going on. And the thought of all this has really stuck in my mind for days since the meeting.

Anyone else's school doing the same sort of thing---and what do you all think.

 

[LucyStorm]

My school is doing the same. I hate to tell them, but they might have to shoot me, because I WILL get my kid. I feel she would be much safer home with me than locked in a building that might be a target with 1000 other kids.

 

[poohbears5]

I hope it never comes to that ! I wonder what schools are going do as far as kids that are on life saving meds as my ds that takes seizure med as he gets locked in his seizures I know I would be knocking down the door to get my kids.

 

[wovenwonder]

This REALLY scares me -- because our district is so UNPREPARED!!!! It angers me!

In the fall our High School has some sort of a threat and had to be evacuated. Some of the kids went to a local Church and some to the Middle School. Well --- Our High School is where all the meals for the entire district are prepared. The elementary kids were offered Bread, Butter, and Lettuce (salad - they called it - but it was just lettuce). When that ran out they ordered Pizza's from a local Pizza joint. So unprepared!!!!!!

I really like the idea of requiring every child to bring in one or two gallons of water and some non perishable food. I think they should require 3 days worth of food/water at the minimum.

I intend to contact the District Monday and not give up until they put a plan in force.

 

[wovenwonder]

Originally posted by poohbears5
I hope it never comes to that ! I wonder what schools are going do as far as kids that are on life saving meds as my ds that takes seizure med as he gets locked in his seizures I know I would be knocking down the door to get my kids.

Maybe you could keep a supply of meds on hand at the school for him (if you don't have them there already).

 

[disykat]

In the case of lockdown I hope parents will use their judgement and consider the safety of the kids before storming the school to get their kids out. I am a very over protective parent but one of the things I had to trust when I decided to put my child in school was to hand over the safety of my children to them during those hours. I am also PTA President so have been present during drills and know how hard the teachers are working to ensure safety. The biggest thing during drills is HEADCOUNT - and that is what would get screwed up if parents storm in.

My child is peanut allergic and would be surrounded by kids with emergency kits full of peanuts and peanut products. It is possible he could be isolated from his medicine in an emergency. Trust me, I know the fear of a parent. But PLEASE go to the place designated for parents and work through the appropriate person to contact the office and your child's teacher etc. I am also a teacher and know the fear of having one of my charges unaccounted for! If parents start storming in, it will be chaos instead of calm and none of our children will be safe anymore.

 

[LucyStorm]

Sorry, but my particular school has left us with no other option. We are not allowed to call the school, we are not allowed to go to the school to pick them up. Nope, sorry, there needs to be a better contingency plan than lock down and no contact with parents. I can't see how locking them down in a building that is likely to be the target of an attack is keeping them safer. They need to come up with a plan to get the kids home and dispersed, not kept in a large group. Or a reasonable plan of how parents will be contacted to come for their kids, not just we're going to lock down, you can't have your kid, and oh by the way, you can't contact us and we're not going to contact you either.

 

[Lanshark]

Yet another reason I can add to my list of why I should keep my kids in a private school. I would have a problem with this type of thing.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

They locked down our school like this when we had a rash of bomb threats. But for DAYS??!?!?!?!

No, sorry.... when our school starts asking for bottled water, I will homeschool full time.

 

[disykat]

I don't think anyone is thinking in terms of locking down for days. But locking down while the emergency is assessed and plans are made is a strong possibility - as was the case in the school near me where there was a sniper holed up in a nearby home. Letting the kids leave the building would have subjected them to harm - keeping them in lock down was perfectly safe.

Personally I would hope private schools have plans for emergencies in place. When I subbed at a private school I was very uncomfortable with the fact that parents could come into the classroom and take their kids without checking them out through the office. These people were strangers to me and I would've had no idea if there were custody issues etc.

I cannot see how it is good for parents to swarm a campus during an emergency. Our school has 600 children to account for and I'd hate to see a single one of them missed in the chaos that would ensue. I would be waiting at the closest place parents were allowed and helping any way I could. In my experience teachers and staff truly care about their students and want them all to stay safe - I'm sorry if your experience is different.

In our situation some bottled water is kept on hand. It isn't really for drinking but for sanitation issues in case of an earthquake. The likelyhood that kids will need to go to the bathroom etc. without running water before parents are able to pick them up is strong, but anyone being there for days is not being planned for.