I can not recall that we have had this question previously.

What would/could you do if you are alerted that your child's school has been locked down? And really, what does that mean? Does it mean officers from the city show up and "serve and protect", or does it mean they wait around outside until the "situation" is more clear?

Is anyone really comfortable that the only thing standing between your child and a potential active shooter is a locked door?

I am not real sure what I would do, and while I realize it is a small chance my daughter' school will ever be affected, this is one of my worst fears.

I'm not sure there is anything you can do. They will probably make you wait till it, whatever they have decided the crisis is, is over. If there is really something going on, you probably won't be able to get through the police cordon. If they let parents in, you'd probably have hundreds of hysterical parents running around. Maybe some of our LEO members can comment further.

As a kid in a high school that went through the drills after the whole columbine and other school shootings. The told us to get in a room and shut the door and go hide in the corner away from the door.

I said, what so they won't miss us when they walk in the door and shoot us all? The teacher just said that's what they were told to do.

I said, well why can't we just go out the window? (one story school) They told us there might be someone waiting for us outside and shoot us. I returned, well that's a chance I'm probably willing to take if I know for sure there is someone walking down the hallway shooting everything that moves, you can take your chance waiting in the corner, first thing I'm doing is throwing a chair/desk through the window or screen and getting the F' OUT!! Yea the teacher didn't like that answer.

of course this was all a exchange about a school shooting, I'm sure there are other reasons for a lock down, but this was a discussion just purely on if you start hearing gun fire inside the school.

The primary reason for a lock-down is to make things less confusing for the police, when they show up. The problem is that it makes things less confusing for the shooter, as well.

Panic has a survival purpose. It's hard to hit a target with everyone running around screaming.

at least even back then, I didn't want to be the sheep herded into the corner. I was talking to friends that if for some reason I couldn't get out of the room through a window, I would try to get furniture in front of door or standing behind it to ambush the guy and hopefully stab them in the neck with something like a scissors.

But I had a good discussion on what I would do. definitely not going to be sitting in the corner if he came into my classroom. (unless my classroom was first on his list, then I would have probably been f'ed and not prepared)

Reason number 192 to consider homeschooling/ small collective schooling. The more I hear stuff like this and the more I see great results with friends that have older kids . . . the more I think public school is, not something I want to do to my kids.

I'm just glad I'm not in school anymore. When I went to high school we had an open campus.

I'm not a parent but I would assume there is probably not a whole lot of anything you would be able to do. Once locked down they are not going to let anyone inside the school except perhaps, LEO.

I don't mean to hijack or drift to far off topic but I would suggest one thing would be to lobby for a change in the laws to allow for teachers/administrators, etc, to be armed in schools. In my opinion that would do the most good. These mass school shootings are just not going to have the level of impact they've had previously if we start allowing those that legally can, carry in schools. Again, just my opinion.

pappy87, I'm entirely in agreement with throwing the nearest desk through the nearest window and getting the [beep] out of there if possible. Suspended for disobeying rules is better than being made into swiss cheese by the next wacko who couldn't handle getting turned down for the prom.

And for the record, when you progress from student to active shooter, I no longer care about your age, or your personal life, or whatever caused you to do what you're doing. All I care about is that the shooter is killing people, and they need to be stopped.

If getting out isn't possible, then pile as much crap in front of that door as you can. Great use for the teacher's desk, I'd think. Desks, chairs, hamster cages....you name it, pile it there.

Better yet, arm the damn teachers.

-Mark

The best thing to do, probably, is to follow the desk or chair out the window, encouraging others to follow.

Probably. If it's a VTech-style shooter, moving from room to room -- best defense is to be somewhere else. I'm not sure how many kids can click over from being reasonably well-behaved students to treating a teacher's instructions/orders as chin music and a distant buzzing, though. Odds are better for Heinlein readers, sure, but not good, all in all.

Parents on the outside -- what should they do? I have no idea, unless they get there before the cops arrive, and then I see some very risky alternatives. (I mean, yeah, sure you're willing to put your life on the line to save your kid, got it. But what if while the cops are busy gunning you down the shooter is still moving from room to room, murdering? That doesn't sound like much of a win, for anybody.)

In the long run, the Israeli system simply makes sense: arm the teachers, and let the parents arm themselves. But this country isn't ready for that, for reasons both bad and good.

I was in 7th or 8th grade when the Columbine shooting happened, and I happened to be in the "gifted" English class both years, so we discussed all sorts of current events. This was one we did discuss, and we briefly looked at one of the shooter's webpages before it was taken down. (I think someone had printed it off at home that night, before AOL yanked the page)

It was something that stuck with me as I continued through school, and to this day. Combined with being a Scout (making it all the way to Eagle) and a self-interest in the liberty we have here in America, is probably what pushed me towards getting my PTC. But yeah, I agree with the above sentiment as to plans. If it was a lockdown due to some whacko running around outside the building (escaped convict, etc) - stay in building, maybe lock door and secure it. But if someone were IN the building and actively seeking targets, it became a goal of escaping the building, and if that weren't possible, barricading the door completely. Teacher's desks are HEAVY - and many classrooms have 2 or 3.

The other consideration, is the paper-thin inside walls used in most school's construction these days. As an example, say I'm in a science room. I'd tip the 2-person tables on end and line them up against the wall as a bullet-catcher/shield, after blocking the door. That way any strays get slowed down at least, if not outright stopped. (1-2" of solid wood, while not perfect, would be better than the walls we'd all seen many a student's fist or head go right through from fights, or slammed doors)

I know it was on my mind after that, and still is, to this day. Now how can we teach other people the mindset? (Kids, teachers, etc)

Things changed since Columbine. Most schools now have cameras, and the police can hook on and watch what is happening inside. The doctrine now is go in immediately with rifles and kill the shooter. Local police do train in the schools, and practice clearing the school each year. They know the range down the halls, (it's why they use rifles).

My kids are out, but I taught them the reason they are to run into the corner so the police can sort it out, kind of like military people follow apparently mindless orders, and it works out best in the end.

That said, they were told to use their own best judgement to defend themselves, instead of relying on teachers. If they thought they could make a break through a window, they were told to do it and disregard school orders.

We would need a different crop of teachers, mostly. From a completely different barrel of fish. My wife is a teacher, and probably one of the most conservative ones in the school. The other 95%? Inculcated in the belief that Die Hard DFL Liberal Union Teachers go by the book, and the book says that ALL guns are scary, and evil, and only bad guys and cops have them. From what I see, and my wifes is a relatively large elementary school in the middle of one of our 2 biggest cities? Maybe.... 2 of that staff would be a good sheepdog for our kids. I don't include my wife in that, either.

There is the crux of the problem, as replicant_argent implies; the chance of it happening in Minnesota is highly unlikely. It's not that the political climate for it doesn't exist, it's the mindset of the teachers. One has to remember that it is possible for some people to never leave the school system. These people have no idea what the real world is like. They graduate high school, get a BA or BS and then a Masters and start teaching right away. I'm not saying that all of them are like this but in my experience, many are. The mindset seems to be that anything about guns or related to guns is bad but they cannot logically enumerate the reasons why.

For example, I was in a conversation with one teacher who opined that she didn't like the NRA. When I asked why, I was told "Oh, they're against removing guns from the streets". When I asked if the person could name one specific piece of legislation that the NRA had supported that they didn't think was correct, I just got a blank look. The whole thing is about beliefs and feeling and facts have very little to do with it. There is an institutional mindset that has to be changed. Arguing logically won't work. This whole belief system is so ingrained that she didn't even bother to look up any facts. A whole generation is being taught to believe what they are told and seem to be unable to think for themselves.

Unfortunately these are the people who are teaching our children and helping to perpetuate this mindset. I think all teachers should be forced to watch some of the documentary footage taken by allied soldiers (of the concentration camps) as they liberated Europe. Then they might appreciate man’s capacity for brutality against his fellow man and realize that even if you submit, there is no guarantee that the perp will not harm you. Then they might also appreciate what can happen to a people who are stripped of any means of defending themselves. They might also realize that by the time the good guys get there, it might be too late and that ultimately one must take the responsibility for ones own safety.

Well, today, my daughter came home and told me they had a special event. The teacher locked the door & the kids sat by the bathroom door until the principal announced they could play again. I asked why they did this and she replied it was in case a bad man came to school and was walking around the halls. I think I may have to talk to the principal about this and what other measures the school is taking.