So my child just asked me

[MontanaMama]

if he should comply with a fire drill by leaving his classroom because what if it isn’t a drill and somebody is waiting to shoot him? This is where we fucking are. These are the conversations we’re having in our house tonight. God damn it.

[Phoenix61]

1. I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say nt

[MontanaMama]

3. OMG. Thank you.

I don’t know what to tell him. I always tell him to trust his teachers because...well, why wouldn’t I want him to trust his teacher?

[samnsara]

2. there should be a verbal announcement that a fire drill is about to happen

[enough]

7. And what if it isn't a drill, but a real fire?

MontanaMama has just described our country's reality.

The worst of it is our assumed helplessness. NO, we can't do anything about it, we're Americans and the NRA is our master, the gun is our deity.

[MontanaMama]

11. I should be more specific...

If the fire alarm sounds and there is no announcement, how do the kiddos know if there’s a fire or a bad guy waiting to mow them down? Not my question...these are the questions my kid is asking. Since many of these murdersnare copy cat events, we will see this again. Our children are not safe in school.

[forgotmylogin]

35. What a stupid dilemma to have to deal with.

I'd say follow the alarm. You can't take the chance that there's not some type of emergency. Someone needs to from now on be on the loudspeaker asap to back it up.

Be vigilant and zigzag away from the fire.

[Blue_true]

36. The campus of the school nearest where I live is about a half mile long and a quarter mile wide.

Concentrated with buildings and walkways. Someone at one end of that campus knowing what is happening at the other end is difficult.

[forgotmylogin]

37. Ugh. That sucks.

I'm bracing for the inevitable reports of false alarms pulled by stupid assholes tomorrow.

[Blue_true]

44. Unfortunately. nt

[Fred Sanders]

33. 13000 kids at that school, not all in classrooms. How long would that take to be communicated?

[yallerdawg]

4. Remember when we used to ask, "How was school today?"

[Kittycow]

54. God... you really nailed it.

[mcar]

5. Oh my!

[tblue37]

6. That was actually done in 1998 (emphasis added):

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/25/us/5-are-killed-at-school-boys-11-and-13-are-held.html

5 Are Killed at School; Boys, 11 and 13, Are Held

A 13-year-old boy, who reportedly vowed to kill all the girls who had broken up with him, and his 11-year-old cousin opened fire on students outside a middle school here this afternoon, killing four girls and a teacher and wounding 11 other people, the authorities said.

Law-enforcement officers said the two boys, dressed in camouflage clothing, apparently lay in wait in a wooded area near the school after someone set off a fire alarm, forcing students and faculty members outside.

snip

[Stardust1]

48. Only 13 and already targeting girls.

This gave me a wave of nausea as I read it.

[tblue37]

49. Yep, and yesterday's shooter is also said to have "trouble with girls."

Apparently , at one point he fought with and threatened the boyfriend of a girl he used to date.

[MaryMagdaline]

8. God I am so sorry

[MontanaMama]

12. Me too.

[sheshe2]

9. My heart is breaking.

[MontanaMama]

15. When will we say enough is enough?

My heart is broken too. One of these days the tide will shift. Tonight I am joining Moms Demand Action. Fuck Congress and the NRA. I’ve had it.

[onecaliberal]

10. It is a known tactic, we train for it here in active shooter situations.

[MontanaMama]

13. I dont want to train my baby

to react to an active shooter situation. I want him to think about math and science and literature and who he’s going to hang with at lunch.

[onecaliberal]

17. As do I. I have twins. But I acknowledge this is the pathetic world we live in.

I’d rather them know that when the fire alarm goes off and the teacher wasn’t expecting it, or it’s not a drill, they know what to do and not run into a place that would make them vulnerable to a psycho with a fucking war weapon.

[MontanaMama]

19. Please tell me what you

are telling your babies tonight. I’m serious. I’m out of ideas.

[onecaliberal]

29. My kids are 17. Weve made no bones about the reality in this country.

We talk about staying alert and aware, about reporting things. We talk about mental health and sick people. We talk about laws and guns. Above all we have very honest, raw conversations. We talk about how we live in a day and age where elected officials are more concerned about campaign donations for their re-elections than they are about children and people being safe from war weapons. We live in California, so it’s a tiny bit harder to get guns but our rural red county has a gun culture too.
There is a mental heath crisis on our public school campuses. There is a gun problem in our country. There is not going to be a quick fix. Doing nothing is not an option.
We have to STOP supporting candidates who will take money from the NRA. We need to strongly support candidates who will pledge to vote for common sense gun control now.

[MontanaMama]

40. Thank you.

We also talked with our son tonight about being aware and paying attention to his surroundings...what people are doing and saying, particularly on social media. We continue to encourage him to trust his guts...if he sees or hears something that doesn’t add up or seem quite right, we want to know and promised to follow up on it with him. I appreciate your ideas and your candor.

[Heartstrings]

14. I cannot imagine....

So sorry and pissed of that our children have to not only know about this, but live it.

Hug him closely, mama!

[MontanaMama]

16. I will and always do.

I’m crying tonight and tomorrow I’m on the phone to my reps in Congress.

[NightWatcher]

18. Wait for the intercom announcement before leaving.

It's what I told my daughter tonight.

[Fred Sanders]

34. Living in fear of a fire alarm...is that to now be accepted? That is bowing to the gun culture,

with respect.

[Blue_true]

38. Maybe the teacher should lock the door while they wait.

Horrible for kids to have to make such choices.

[Ms. Toad]

41. I don't know that I've ever heard an intercom announcement

I work at the university as part of the team to move people out of the building - and last year we were housed in a high school. There were no intercom announcements for the fire drills.

The goal is to evacuate the building ASAP to prevent the harm associated with staying in place, and making an announcement would delay evacuation.

[benld74]

20. Teachers generally know when drills take place

They should be the 1st ones out of their rooms, leading out of school.
That’s how both my daughters drills worked in past

Our 16 yr old told us last week they had 3 drills in one day
Fire
Tornado
Intruder

Told use they didn’t learn anything that day with all the interruptions
I did complain to pricipal
Awaiting response,,, 4 days counting

[MontanaMama]

22. Seriously?

My goodness. Thank you for your response.

[TexasProgresive]

27. So the children shouldn't react if it's not a scheduled drill.

What if it is a real fire?

[Blue_true]

39. That is the question that I have.

Someone has to confirm that the alarm is real. Horrible set of choices for young kids to have to make. When I went to high school and the earlier schools, we NEVER worried about guns on campus.

[Heartstrings]

31. Not always true.....

The daycare I taught at had planned drills but also surprise drills. There's a "different" response when you know it's coming, anticipate it and are able to plan for it. You basically plan around it. And it's quick, usually no longer than 2 minutes.

When it's a surprise, all hell breaks loose and adrenaline takes over. Children sense your fear and trepidation and take their cue from you as their caregiver/teacher even if you're doing your heartfelt best to remain calm. Their routine is interrupted by bells and lights, not to mention being locked from the inside, in a closet, in the dark, until a police badge is shown under the door. The longest we (2 teachers and 8 - 2 year olds) were in the closet was 35 LONG minutes and it was total chaos. It was a coat closet with 10 people crammed in it....

Also, the teachers were the last out of the rooms and building after making certain all children were accounted for and out.

The planned ones are essential to know what to do, but the surprise ones are sheer panic. Unfortunately they're both necessary and that is so sad and pathetic that children need to be subjected to that.....

[Mr. Ected]

21. We pulled our kids out of school several years ago and have homeschooled them

My wife left her job and we've scrimped and saved and sacrificed, but the day my 11 year old came home to say the first two days of school were spent with law enforcement officers teaching them how to react in the event of an attack, who to snitch on and when, we realized that schools were no longer institutions of learning but rather the cheapest way to congregate our kids and teach them as best we could under the dire circumstances of the country, we said fuck this shit.

[MontanaMama]

24. Wow. Good on you.

Thank you for your response.

[Docreed2003]

23. We have had similar conversations with our kids...

It sucks MontanaMama, but that is sadly where we are in this country.

[MontanaMama]

25. It sucks so bad.

I’m heart broken for our fellow parents in FL tonight who have to plan funerals for their children.

[Docreed2003]

28. Me too

I can’t even imagine that ordeal...

[Cha]

26. It's so sad, MontanaMama

sweet boy

[MontanaMama]

30. Yes Cha.

thank you.

[Cha]

32. ..

[nini]

42. I made my grandson promise me

if we were ever in a place where shooting started to let me cover him..and him not try to cover me.

Yea.. we had that talk after a shooting a year or so ago. Nothing has changed

[MontanaMama]

43. And here we are. Still.

I’m glad you could talk honestly with your grandson about this, nini. We talked about barricading options and how to get out a window. What times we live in. I’m so sad tonight.

[nini]

45. I'm sad too

and it's so frustrating to not have the power to fix it

[sarcasmo]

46. The home school numbers will see an uptick this year.

[MontanaMama]

47. Bet youre right.

However, I’m familiar with quite a few home school families where I live and they are all without exception trump humping 2nd amendment freaks. So I’m not sure that to make of that.

[ck4829]

50. Kick

[redstatebluegirl]

51. This is the reality in our gun loving and ultra macho country. It makes me sad.

[MontanaMama]

53. Yes.

DU's Eliot Rosewater said on another thread that the GOP and NRA insist our children live like this. It is that simple.

[underpants]

52. Ugh