school safety?

My dh and I went to back to school night last night and we were told that the school safety requirements have changed. Instead of doing a few fire drills through out the year they are now going to do just a couple fire drills but are now required to do a lock down of the school and an evacuation of the school and transport all the kids to another location. They said they would give us notice of when the lock down and evacuation days are going to be since obviously no one will be aloud to go in or out of the school. I don't mind the fire drills since you never know and I understand for the lock down but I really don't like the idea of them practicing an evacuation and transporting my kids somewhere else. I am going to assume they are going to let us know the location but am not sure of that which I think that is part of why I don't like it since I won't know where my kids are going to be. Does anyone elses school do this? I am just wondering are dh and I the only ones that don't like the idea of this?

Thanks just wondering what other schools do and your opinions on this.

 

Interesting. I have never heard of that.

 

I haven't heard about the schools around us doing this. It's sad that we live in a time that this is necessary. It would make me nervous to have my kids go through this as well, but I have to say it's probably a good thing to practice. When we practice something over and over it becomes easy to do. When we practice emergency procedures it can help save lives. I think it's much better to practice and then never have to go through it than to never practice and have the emergency come up and not know what to do.

Good luck, hope it goes well!

 

I don't have a problem with it, in that wherever the kids are there are tons of headcounts, and they really do know that all the kids are accounted for. And like the pp'er said, the practice will make it so they can deal with it if a real emergency occurs. I remember when I was in 4th grade, and during the grandparents day concert, a heater blew up (the class was in art at the time), and caused a pretty major fire. Everyone was able to leave the building without a problem, because they were comfortable with "drop everything and go". Preparation makes all the difference in the world!

 

I think it will take some getting used to, but I hate that we live in a time when that's necessary! I think the practice is a good idea!! Better than chaos if the need arises!

 

Transport does not always mean on a bus. We have evacuation drills (for bomb threats) and we have walk the kids to the stadium next door at the high school. For lockdown, we stay at the school. Could it be possible that they will just be walking them to another building or a safe place? Also, there are very specific guidelines that teachers have to follow when we do an evacuation...such as calling roll multiple times to make sure we have all students, and other things. I really think it is a good drill because it is something that doesn't happen often, but when it does, the students should know what to do.

 

They do drills where they have to bring the kids to another building, plus lockdown drills where they have to hide again the one wall or under desks. It's the kind of world we live in. My kids don't seem too concerned with it when they do it. It doesn't bother me, as I'd rather the school has the plan down pat in case a real emergency arises. You never know when they may need it for real.

 

I was really surprised when my kids came home last Friday and told me they did an evacuation drill. That is new for us as well. They did it and they all crossed the street and went to a church nearby. I think it would be nice to know these things as well. How would I know where my kids would be if they hadn't said anything. The school sure didn't.

 

ITA. I think they are necessary. What if there was an emergency and they hadn't had any drills?

 

The last elementary school I taught at had both lockdown and evacuation drills. There were 2 types of lockdown drills, one for an intruder inside the building and one for an outside stalker type person. There were different places in the classroom to go for each type of drill.

For the evacuation we walked to a nearby middle school, and they would come to us for their evacuation drill.

My daughters' school has lockdown drills, I know this because I was subbing on a day one was held last year, but I don't know about an evacuation plan.

 

Ours do fire drills shelter in place drills where the kids have to get under their desks. I don't think they practice lock down drills because basically all that means is all doors (classroom and outside, although outside doors are already all locked) and no one can be in the halls. I can tell you that just yesterday at my DD's school they had a partial lock down. There was an armed robbery at a fast food place 3 miles from her school and they were looking for the suspects so they put all 5 schools within 5 miles on lock down yesterday. And I know when I taught there were many times we had lock downs for those exact reasons. When the DC sniper went on his rampage 8 years ago, we were on lock down the entire time all day until he was caught.

Our schools do have a plan to transport kids to another location if need be, but they do not practice that.

 

My sons school does the same thing and they walk to the college parking lot behind the school. I also agree that it's sad they have to do these drills but I like that they do them.

I grew up doing the earthquake drills and boy did it pay off when the 89' quake hit!! We weren't in school that day but I knew just what to do and I was only 10 years old. I will never forget that day...

 

I didn't finish my thought on this and apparently hit reply. I do like that they practice all these drills because if an emergency did come up, they would know what to do with hopefully just a little direction from the staff. Hopefully they'll stay much calmer. My DD's 2nd grade class does a buddy system as well. They are assigned a buddy for all emergencies and they stick with that person and it's an extra layer of knowing where everyone is/accounting for everyone.

 

My girls does an evacuation drill in the spring. Last year my girls were in the pre-K and had to participate in the schools evacuation drill. The letter we got home said they were going to the local middle school but instead of the middle school they went to the high school across from the library. It was all my girls could talk about on the car ride home that day. One mom kept her DD home that day since she did not want the first bus experience to be an evacuation drill.

 

I taught in a high school but the year before I started they had 10 bomb threats. I would rather my little ones know what to do in that situation rather than to be panicked. A drill helps students to be reassured when a real threat is encountered. I also have been in more than one school where there is a dangerous intruder I would like the school to know how to get the children out of that situation.

 

I do agree that they need to practice and like I said before I don't mind them doing the fire drills or the lock down. I am just worried about the evacuation and not knowing where my kids are going to be going. It does reassure me that some of you mentioned your kids that have done this have enjoyed it and it just seems like a fun little trip to them. I am assuming they would have to be bused somewhere because there is no where close to walk to that is near by and that would hold all the children in the school unless they split up the grades or something and even then I don't know. They could walk to the middle or high school but that would be a long walk and take up probably half the day or more walking to one of the schools and back again. Our school already has it where you can only enter the building through the main door (which has a working camera on the entrance) and then you have to go through the office to get into the school. I guess for me I just don't want my kids getting scared but I guess the school makes it so they shouldn't be scared and I know that's why they practice everything. It's just really sad that kids have to practice these things.

 

Our school district has an evacuation plan in case of any problems with the nuclear power plant that is less than 5 miles away. There was information sent home that in case of something the students will be evacuated to a college that is about 20 miles away. I know that they do practice fire drills but our school doors are locked during the day and people can only enter by being buzzed in at the main door. So I don't know how a lock down would work in that situation.

 

I work in a school also, and I am afraid that many of you have a false sense of security thinking that all of the outside doors being locked routinely is considered "lock down". Every door is a hazard, whether it is locked or not. A student can open a door at any time and let someone in, an adult could have placed a rock in the door to hold it open (a tiny rock), a janitor could be taking the trash out, the kids could be exiting the building to head to the playground, the PE classes could be heading outside (or have a gym door propped open for because the gym is hot, a parent could be buzzed in the front door and someone come in at the same time.


A true "lock down" is when every door in the building is closed and locked (outer doors, classroom doors, etc). What happens in a child goes to the restroom and someone "bad" enters the building, would they know what to do? Where would they go?

I agree that it is very sad that we have to practice these drills, but without them pure chaos would in sue.


I work in a school of over 2100 students (not counting staff) that can totally empty the building and everyone is accounted for in less than 15 minutes!!!!! (we all head to the school track, and line up with our second hour teacher (considered the homeroom teacher) the teachers are lined up in alphabetical order around the track, no matter what time of day it is, attendance is taken and we have been able to accomplish this by practice, practice, practice!!!!!!




I would sure hate for my children NOT to practice for these drills and then get lost in the shuffle and possible DIE as a result. I would much rather be able to talk to my child about it, have them practice and talk about it again after it is over.


Just my 2¢ though!

 

I think they have to tell you the location, don't they?
Our school is near a nuclear power plant, so we yearly get info about where the kids would go in event of an evacuation.
When I worked at a school (as a lunchroom attendant), they had a practice lockdown where the door to each room is locked, and no-one is in the halls, the classroom doors are only opened by a teacher after the principal gives them a codeword, etc. They also had a memo out to the staff, giving the code phrase announced over the PA system if someone took the school office hostage. Yes, it was scary enough for me to think those were necessary precautions, and I'm an adult! Think of how frightening this could be to children, so I'm GLAD that these kind of practices are held and explained. I know the principal came into the lunchroom for EACH grade, reassuring the kids they were always safe, and answering questions. Having emergency drills, however frightening in children's minds, calms so many fears and can only make real emergencies less chaotic, IMHO.
It made me feel better, to know what to do, actually.

 

Unfortunately in this day and age it has become necessary...and sadly it's not just due to weather conditions. At our preschool they had the kids practice getting on the little bus in the event of an evacuation which I thought was a great idea.

Maybe they can send a school wide email or flyer home to let you know time/day/location. We always got a few days notice and knew what was planned.