School was on lock down yesterday and DD

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

got in trouble for giggling It looked like a freakin war zone in front of my house. Swat team members actually laying in wait on my lawn:scared1 police departments from all over the county and homeland security vehicles along with the bomb squad.. Apparently a kid in the local high school had a gun and was threatenting sucide and homicide. All schools were locked down until aboujt 4pm.

My almost 9 y/o dd got recess detention for today for giggling. I sent the teacher a note:

Dear Mrs X

I understand your frustration that my dd was giggling during a lock down, however please realize it was a nervous laugh. I appreciate what must have been an anxious 90 minutes for you, but also keep in mind how the 8 year olds must have felt. Trying not to be scared in front of their friends. My dd came home and broke down. I hope you can understand that it was not done out of disrespect.

Sincerely,

moos mom


ARE YOU KIDDING ME? My kid (and I am sure many others) were traumatized and you are worried about a giggle?

 

[slo]

How scary!!!!

I think your note to the teacher was perfect, and I would have done the same thing!!!

I, for one, am a nervous laugher
I also laugh when I'm in a lot of pain.
My Dh knows that if I hurt myself, and I crack up laughing, than it's serious - wierd I know!!!!

 

[mickeyboat]

I am not sure I agree with you. I thought that during a lock down the whole point was to keep the kids from being noticed - seen or heard. The kids are instructed not to make any noise - it's for their own safety. This wasn't a drill, either, it was a real-life dangerous incident. She could have endangered the entire class by giggling - it doesn't matter why she did it.

I know this sounds extreme, but it was an extreme situation. It's too bad that we even have to worry about these kinds of things with our kids. I am sorry your daughter was upset.

Denae

 

[rgf207]

I am not sure I agree with you. I thought that during a lock down the whole point was to keep the kids from being noticed - seen or heard. The kids are instructed not to make any noise - it's for their own safety. This wasn't a drill, either, it was a real-life dangerous incident. She could have endangered the entire class by giggling - it doesn't matter why she did it.

I know this sounds extreme, but it was an extreme situation. It's too bad that we even have to worry about these kinds of things with our kids. I am sorry your daughter was upset.

Denae

I agree. My wife is a teacher and that is exactly how lockdowns work. There is to be absolute silence.

 

[minniebeth]

I really think the point of a lock down is to keep the kids as safe as possible in an unpredictable situation. It is impossible to keep a whole school of children not seen and not heard. I'm not saying this to be argumentative, but it is obvious they are there, especially coming from a student within the school itself. I understand the need for cooperation and compliance from students in this situation, and that is why they have lock down drills. But in a real situation, it is sure to be impossibly frightening for young children and human nature will prevail with crying, giggling through nervous laugher, etc.

I am so sorry your school had to experience this. (any your DD)
I'm sure the emotional toll on all the parents, students, faculty, etc.
is tough.

It is so sad that our children have to ever live in potential fear at school.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

We are to put our kids in the corner away from the door and window and keep them completely quiet. All windows ans door locked and curtains closed. Basically in the dark and quiet. It is so that no one knows they are in the room.

I hope your DD feels better today, what an awful thing to go through.

 

[mickeyboat]

I really think the point of a lock down is to keep the kids as safe as possible in an unpredictable situation. It is impossible to keep a whole school of children not seen and not heard. I'm not saying this to be argumentative, but it is obvious they are there, especially coming from a student within the school itself. I understand the need for cooperation and compliance from students in this situation, and that is why they have lock down drills. But in a real situation, it is sure to be impossibly frightening for young children and human nature will prevail with crying, giggling through nervous laugher, etc.

I guess as a teacher if I was told that the safest thing to do to save the lives of my students was to have it dark and quiet, I would do whatever it took to make sure it was dark and quiet, including issuing detentions the next day for kids who made noise.

I don't think the kids understand the gravity of the situation. They do, however, understand the connection between making noise and getting a detention. If that is what it takes to make sure they remain quiet next time, then that is what I would do.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

What a terrible ordeal! I can't imagine what you went through. As scary as it was, some people do laugh when they're nervous. I can see both sides of this story.

 

[bambootinker]

I guess as a teacher if I was told that the safest thing to do to save the lives of my students was to have it dark and quiet, I would do whatever it took to make sure it was dark and quiet, including issuing detentions the next day for kids who made noise.

I don't think the kids understand the gravity of the situation. They do, however, understand the connection between making noise and getting a detention. If that is what it takes to make sure they remain quiet next time, then that is what I would do.

A detention never killed anyone. And I suspect that the teacher understands nervous laughter. It still doesn't make it safe.

I'm glad that they were safe in the end.

 

[JESW]

Are you in MA? My ds' school was on lock-down yesterday too!

Jill

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

I'm just glad everything turned out ok. What in the heck is going on with kids today?

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I understand your frustration, but as a teacher myself I feel that she is completely within her rights. We have lock down procedures that so far we have never had to use, although we do practice them. It is standard procedure that you turn off all the lights, lock the doors, and hide.

Perhaps explaining to your daughterwhy she needs to be quiet will help. This is what we tell our kids whenever we have our lock down drill:

If there is somebody in the building who wants to hurt us, they know they don't have a lot of time. Mrs. ________(the reesource officer) will be on her way immediately, and so will the police. Not every room is used every hour, and a class may have gone outside or to the library. The shooter doesn't know which rooms are empty and which ones aren't. They aren't going to spend their time trying to get through a locked door unless they know for sure that somebody is in there. They're going to keep looking for a room that is unlocked or for a room where they know there are students. If we stay quiet and hide, they will not know that we are here, and hopefully they will move on to a different room.

When we had our drill at the beginning of the year, any student who didn't comply got to talk to the Vice Principal. This is done for the safety of all the students, as explained above. So I'm sorry that your daughter got detention, but the teacher is trying to do what she can to keep your daughter out of harm's way.

 

[C.Ann]

What if she had been frightened and cried? Would she have received a detention for that as well?

I fully understand the need for complete silence - however, at such a young age it's difficult to control ones emotions during such a frightening situation.. (And even more so if it's a "first time event"..) I remember as a child getting the nervous giggles at funerals.. Rather than crying, I giggled.. I meant no disrespect - that's just how my particular emotions came out in an uncomfortable situation..

I agree that mom should explain to DD "why" they need complete silence during a threatening situation, but if this has not happened before - nor have there been drills to teach these young children the proper protocol - I think issuing a detention right out of the gate was a little extreme..

 

[mommasita]

My daughter is 9 and the exact same thing happened. It was no ON lock down, but they were going over the procedures, in case the event happened.

She received detention at lunch, and I was on the fence about it, but then realized that in the real event she could have endangered herself.

I think your note was right on

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Hey PAW.... I realize it was not jail time, however it was a nervous giggle. If it any of my other kids, I would not have been surprised and I would probably have talked to them about the need for silence. But this dd is the quietest kid and she was visably upset. I am not a "coddler" as you have indicated. I just thought it was a bit extreme for a giggle. Please feel free to answer me HERE.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

What if she had been frightened and cried? Would she have received a detention for that as well?

What if they threw up? Yep, someone did that during one of my DS's lockdowns, and this was in high school. I have heard of this happening in other schools/grades too.

 

[Enchanted_Mama]

are you in NJ? we had a situation just like that here yesterday. scary stuff!

 

[daisax]

I'm confused -- a high school student in a completely different school had a gun and they had 9 year olds in a completely different school huddled in the dark in total silence?

Were the buildings side by side or something?

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

I'm confused -- a high school student in a completely different school had a gun and they had 9 year olds in a completely different school huddled in the dark in total silence?

Were the buildings side by side or something?

The schools are not side by side at all. Two sperate areas of town.

 

[rgf207]

I'm confused -- a high school student in a completely different school had a gun and they had 9 year olds in a completely different school huddled in the dark in total silence?

Were the buildings side by side or something?

Normally if something like this happens, all schools within a certain radius will go into lockdown since they do not know if there are multiple people involved that could be targeting multiple schools.