In light of yesterday's Va Tech tragedy, Ruth Anne asked me about emergency plans in my building. Since I was stretching to come up with something to write about tonight, I'll turn my response into a post. Thanks, Ruth Anne!
Post-Columbine, I think most schools in the nation stepped up to the plate and adopted a crisis code and terrorism plan. The problem was, alot of schools went overboard. The idea was that the intruder not know what message was being sent, via PA, to the whole faculty, so they adopted a color or number system for emergencies (Think: Code Yellow= internal intruder). The problem? There are too many possible crisis situations: intruder outside, intruder inside, bomb threat, police raid, tornado, etc. Too many colors or numberst to keep track of. And besides, if there's an intruder in the building, is announcing, "Teachers, we are now in internal lockdown," really going to stop him/her?
In my building, like alot of other schools, we've gone back to calling a spade a spade. If an intruder is in the building, the announcement, "Teachers, we are in an internal lockdown. Please take all necessary precautions," comes over the PA system. All teachers are trained on procedures for various crisis situations on a yearly basis, and we have schoolwide practice drills with our kids at the beginning of each year. It's not necessary, I don't think, to practice more than that, at the elementary level, because you want them to be aware, but you don't want to create an environment of fear. In the past couple years, we've had to go to an internal lockdown on a few occassions (not for anything terribly serious, but for "suspicious person" situations). I respond to the announcement in the way I've been trained, and the kids follow my lead, depending on the severity of the situation. I like it because there's no confusion and I don't have to remember or frantically check a color or number system.
Living in a military area, I suppose there's an increased risk, but it doesn't affect our daily lives and we still practice the same procedures.
We do everything to keep safe, but the reality is that tragedy happens. Virginia Tech is a great school with the same safety procedures as hundreds of other universities and schools. One interesting note: In the colleges and even elementary schools I've been in, the doors all lock from the outside only (with a key). In the case of Virginia Tech, there was no way to keep the gunman out of the room without opening the door, locking it with a key, and closing it again. Several students tried to barricade the door from the inside, and were shot and killed through the door.
One of my students lost an uncle. Such a far-reaching tragedy.
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5 comments:
Thanks, Maria. It sounds like a reasonable plan. I was thinking that being in a military town would make one safer because of the presence of strong menfolk who were well trained for crises and such.
We have a security plan too: everybody get a pistol and go meet the intruder. ;-)
Ruth Anne,
While those men (and women) folk are trained for crises, they tend to operate in their own little world (meaning, on base) and their presence, I don't think, makes any of us feel any safer than you would anywhere else in the country.
My school district has 55 ELEMENTARY schools, alone. It's important that all those schools have the same basic crisis plan.
When I taught down the street from the major military base, our kids and staff used to practice bomb drills, since we were so close in physicalproximity. In my building now, furter away, we don't do that drill with the kids, though there's a procedure for that that the teachers are aware of as well.
By (On) the Sea,
Go back to work, darlin' ;)
By the Sea: Are you talking about a million tons of floating diplomacy?
RAA - yes, in our ten thousand tons of floating diplomacy, we don't always take kindly to uninvited guests. Then again, depends on who they are. If they're important they may get the red carpet and ceremonial rifles. If not, just greasy engineers with pistols and whatever spare parts they can find in the plant. Ever seen a 1000-ton wrench?
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