Safety at School

[Eternal Beginner]

The other day my son came home and said they had a "lockdown practice" at school. I had never heard of this and basically what he described is that if a stranger or suspicious person is approaching or in the school there is a general warning and the kids are put on "lockdown".

The kids practice getting into the nearest classroom if in the hallway or washroom or getting to the community club if they are at recess or outside for gym. They are also drilled on hiding beneath desks and using window exits (a little tricky because of the design of our school). They are all also taught how to lock the classroom door and use the intercom system if they need to contact the office.

Do your schools do this? If they do, what else is part of this practice and what do you think would be useful for the kids to know?

 

[theletch1]

The schools in this area do not do this yet. There has been some discussion of it. Sounds a little like the old incoming nuke drills we used to do when I was a kid.

 

[Kacey]

We do it - we have 3 levels.

Level 1: Doors to the building remain unlocked, but all students outside come in (from gym, lunch, etc.)

Level 2: Just like level 1, with these additions:

• Doors to the outside are locked
• Students in the mobiles (mobile classrooms - aka trailers) cannot go in or out, because there is no direct connection to the main building
• Teachers are asked not to leave the building if they don't have to

Level 3: Level 2, with these additions:

• All students are pulled into the nearest classroom, seated against an interior wall where they cannot be seen from the hallway
• Door to the room is locked, lights are turned out, students have to be quiet.
• No one is allowed into or out of the building

 

[shesulsa]

Yes, we have lockdown drills. Students come inside to the nearest classroom, all doors are locked.

 

[stickarts]

I have not heard of our schools doing this. The extent of the security seems to be checking a persons name on their license if they go to pick up their kid at school.

 

[tsdclaflin]

Our schools do it but I don't know of the details.

 

[still learning]

Hello, Today this is becoming very common? ..remember the fire drills? ..now most of the schools here (Hawaii) practice locked downs too!

Is this the right answer or just a band-aid to the problem we all have?

Too many bad people! Not enough jails. Too many release early(paroles).

I better end here...this subject will make you.....? Gotta think more positive! .........Aloha

 

[terryl965]

Yes, we have lockdown drills. Students come inside to the nearest classroom, all doors are locked.

Shesulsa are you a teacher, if so I was too and my wife still is th grader me it was high schoolers.
Terry

 

[bushidomartialarts]

local school district has lockdown drills, as well as specific drills for fire, earthquake and tornado.

 

[shesulsa]

Shesulsa are you a teacher, if so I was too and my wife still is th grader me it was high schoolers.
Terry

No, Terry, I'm not a school teacher. When I said "we" I was using the reference to "us" in "our" state of Washington. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[MJS]

The other day my son came home and said they had a "lockdown practice" at school. I had never heard of this and basically what he described is that if a stranger or suspicious person is approaching or in the school there is a general warning and the kids are put on "lockdown".

The kids practice getting into the nearest classroom if in the hallway or washroom or getting to the community club if they are at recess or outside for gym. They are also drilled on hiding beneath desks and using window exits (a little tricky because of the design of our school). They are all also taught how to lock the classroom door and use the intercom system if they need to contact the office.

Do your schools do this? If they do, what else is part of this practice and what do you think would be useful for the kids to know?

Not sure if the schools actually go through a drill, but a few schools in the City in which I work have gone into a 'lock down' mode due to some recent incidents in the area of the school.

I suppose though that it would be a very good idea to run periodic drills. By doing this, it'll hopefully, in the event of a situation, make things run a bit smoother.

Mike

 

[Kacey]

I am a teacher (middle school special education), which is why I was able to distinguish between the levels of lockdown in my district so specifically - some of the students and parents may know, but the kids mostly go wherever they are told to go, and don't really worry about the details. The kids mostly consider drills (or even real lockdowns) as a change from regular classes - they did really well with the unannounced drill we had in late January; there were a lot more problems when high winds blew down a power line and we lost power in the building, except for the emergency generator; of course, the fire alarm right after the power came back on (suspicion of a gas leak in the science wing, where there are gas bunsen burners all around the room) didn't help that any! Even so, the kids did really well, considering it took nearly 3 hours for things to get back to normal.

 

[Drac]

Sounds a little like the old incoming nuke drills we used to do when I was a kid.

My Gawd, I had forgotten about those...Seems like 100 years ago..How much we didn't know...Sorry I've drifted away from the topic..From an LEO standpoint drills like this are a good idea..

 

[CuongNhuka]

We do lock down, we just don't practice it. That's probably because the biggest threat to the people that go to my school, are the people that go to my school. Acctuly the thing we drill is fire procedures. And that's only because there's an alarm pulled for no reason about once a month. And even though there was a tornado here on thursday, we'll probably never do a drill for one.

Sweet Brighit Bless your Blade,

John

 

[Eternal Beginner]

Unfortunately, I don't know if lockdowns would help in a case like this if no one spotted him coming in :http://www.cbc.ca/edmonton/story/ed-sexassault20060404.html

What is your school's policy on locked doors? Visitors? Picking up your kids? Keeping records of restraining orders or custody issues?

 

[Hand Sword]

Your right! It's like a virus, once it's in, it's too late! Precautions should be taken for prevention.