Is your children's school conducting drills to teach teachers and children how to defeat an intruder?

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 22:57:36 -0400

The recent shooting in Oregon has many thinking about how to prepare for a would be intruder. Some schools are conducting drill days where teachers and students learn how to react during a hostile intruder situation. A friend of mine who teaches at a middle school said her school has begun these types of drills and that she had employed her own method of securing the door to her classroom with a metal bar and had placed other items in front of the door. Here is a picture I found online of how the members of one classroom prepared to ward off would be hostile intruder. "They left the door unlocked (on purpose) and employed a $1 countermeasure that prevented" the would be hostile intruder from getting the door open. When the door was opened the intruder found this. Had the intruder gotten past this, the students had several gym balls ready to throw at him/her "to simulate heavier, more painful objects". "With just a little bit of instruction the teacher had prepared these students to win in a horrible situation." Have you talked with your children about how they could fortify their rooms, throw things at the intruder and or breaking a window to escape? I like the idea behind this, "Train them to WIN instead of huddling together in a room and hoping nothing bad happens!" What about using this same training method in other settings?

Response by COL Charles Williams made Oct 5 at 2015 11:03 PM

COL Charles Williams — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 23:03:22 -0400

CPT Private RallyPoint Member We have been doing drills and training since I started teaching in 2013. We have also been improving the security posture in the buildings and classrooms. We practice often. I personally wish we had guns at the ready too...

Response by Cpl James Waycasie made Oct 5 at 2015 11:12 PM

Cpl James Waycasie — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 23:12:45 -0400

My child is grown and married now, but I have heard that schools around here were doing some drills and hypothetical mock situation responses.

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 5 at 2015 11:14 PM

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 23:14:27 -0400

This is reminiscent of the nuke drills we had in grade school back in the 70's. If they just locked up the psychos again, maybe they wouldn't need to have this type of training.

Response by Capt Mark Strobl made Oct 5 at 2015 11:25 PM

Capt Mark Strobl — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 23:25:03 -0400

Post-Columbine, Colorado schools have introduced staff led "re-ac" plans for active shooters. Some schools have been retro-fitted with mechanical "governors" that would slow down (but, not out-right prevent) an intruder. However, all of these items are manually controlled by staff members. Elementary age kids have one "practice" lock down each year. All schools can go into 100% lock down --not allowing ANY entrance nor exit. Just to add a little anxiety to your day, parents get a text message and/or voice message every time the schools go into lock down... even for the practice. For what the school district hasn't covered, I've had to have age-appropriate discussions with each of my kids --putting a plan into their head BEFORE the door gets kicked in.

Response by Sgt Kelli Mays made Oct 5 at 2015 11:32 PM

Sgt Kelli Mays — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 23:32:23 -0400

I have no idea....though my kids have been out of school for a while now...

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Oct 6 at 2015 1:02 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 01:02:10 -0400

My Children are grown but Unfortunately probably my Grandchildren in Oregon are learning because this country is so hosed up in it's Prostitution to the Gun and Ammo Lobby.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 1:04 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 01:04:32 -0400

I am not sure if my children's schools are, but it is something I should enquire about. We are in western Kentucky and the school system is not the best. I would probably be safe to say that they are not doing this. I will ask my daughter about it when I talk to her.

Response by SrA Matthew Knight made Oct 6 at 2015 2:44 AM

SrA Matthew Knight — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 02:44:49 -0400

We did mock drills. In the summer our Sheriff's Office, Fire Dept. and Ambulance would run a full on exercise with mock casualties and everything while school was out just involving a smaller group of people. During the actual school year we would do small scale drills basically saying there was one in the building somewhere so we would close the doors (they were always locked), turn off the lights and hide against the wall with the door so no one could see us inside. We never stacked things against the door or threw things at someone but I always ran though in my head what I could possibly grab to use to defend myself should someone come in.

I hate to say it but with the shooting culture becoming more visible through media I find myself going through scenarios in my head in many settings. For example, in movie theaters I almost always sit near the top so I can get fewer people behind me. From there I run through what I would do if someone does start shooting, my primary plan would be (since I always have a bottle of water) to drop to the floor and let the water spill out over the floor and play dead. With little lighting I would pray they only saw the little bit of light they had shimmer off the water and think it's blood and move on. Wouldn't be worth it to try and run for it.

It never hurts to run through a plan. Even if the school they or you go to doesn't practice you can at least come up with a plan yourself and teach your children what to do should something crazy happen.

Response by LTC John Shaw made Oct 6 at 2015 8:01 AM

LTC John Shaw — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 08:01:55 -0400

TSgt Hunter Logan Yes, all 4 of my kids have been in these type of prevention drills, most are discussions, not active exercises. Not much different than the tornado or nuke drills I had as a child.

Response by LTJG Robert M. made Oct 6 at 2015 9:28 AM

LTJG Robert M. — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 09:28:29 -0400

This is how we do it in Texas.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Oct 6 at 2015 12:19 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 12:19:47 -0400

My youngest son is 24 so I don't have any children in school CPT Private RallyPoint Member. That being said for over 10 years the school district where I live has increased security and increased control of entry and exit of adults, strangers, etc.

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Oct 6 at 2015 1:13 PM

Cpl Jeff N. — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:13:14 -0400

I have one remaining in high school but had three in total. My instructions to them were to always create separation as quickly as possible. Hunkering down in a corner in a classroom was a recipe to get shot like fish in a barrel.

By create separation I meant to get out of the building any way possible. Chair through window, back door etc. Move away from the building as rapidly as possible. Do not, under any circumstance sit in a corner and hope. Hope is not a course of action. I know that would go against the teacher's instruction but most of them are not equipped to deal with an active shooter anyway.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 7 at 2015 6:20 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 06:20:12 -0400

I'm an elementary school teacher in New York. We talk about what lockdowns are and are supposed to practice with our classes, but do not have a school-wide drill. In June we had a shooting threat and were on lockdown for hours. The police went around with a SWAT team to each class when the all-clear was given. They were angry when teachers refused to open the door since anyone could say they were the police, and the kids were terrified by seeing people with rifles coming in.

Last week we had back-to-back bomb threats. There were many issues but most of the kids remembered the June incident and were very well behaved. Our Health and Safety committee suggested to a principal that a survey be sent out to teachers to address what went well and what didn't.

Luckily all three were false threats, but the issue is getting out of control. While my school is improving its security and procedures, I worry that we won't be prepared if a threat turned out to be real.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 7 at 2015 8:41 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 08:41:40 -0400

Training always mitigates the severity of loss. Some recognize that and have implemented lockdown drills to cover a variety of scenarios, some drill for an active shooter specifically, and unfortunately some still don't get it (the Oregon legislature this year rejected a request for funding that would have provided regional law enforcement trainers to provide active shooter training throughout the state).

The incessant fixation on firearms is both dangerous and naive'. The lunatics will use alternate means if firearms are not available (and historically have done so). While knives require close quarters they can still be deadly...on the other end of the spectrum, pipe bombs are easily made and cause mass casualties. I just returned from federal training on the Prevention and Response to Suicide Bombing Incidents. If the general public knew how available both the precursor materials and instructions for assembly are for powerful and deadly home made explosives, firearms would not be the sole focus.