Lockdown Nation [View all]

[otohara]

We routinely terrify and traumatize kids to spare them terror and trauma.



This is the way we live now.

Ukiah, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 10. Three South Ukiah schools locked down after a report of a man with a rifle near the church behind one of the schools.
Hiddenite, N.C., Tuesday, Dec. 10: Hiddenite Elementary school locked down after a nearby bank robbery.
Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, Dec. 10: Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School locked down after a “vague threat” found written on a bathroom wall.
Lake Villa, Ill., Tuesday, Dec. 10: Five Lake County schools locked down over two separate incidents, one involving a man wielding a rifle in his home during a domestic dispute, the other involving a student who brought a weapon to a middle school.
Milwaukee, Friday, Dec. 6: James Madison Academic Campus put on lockdown after unsubstantiated report of a gun on grounds.
Tempe, Ariz., Friday, Dec. 6, Fees College Preparatory Middle School locked down after police found a boy carrying a BB gun on campus.
Stockton, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 5: Grunsky Elementary School placed on lockdown as a result of a domestic dispute in a nearby residence.
Genesee Township, Mich., Thursday, Dec. 5: Kearsley High School placed on lockdown after someone calls in a bomb threat.
Howard County, Md., Thursday, Dec. 5: Lockdown at Laurel Woods Elementary School and Forest Ridge Elementary School.
Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, Dec. 4: West Orange High School on lockdown after a 15-year-old student shot by another student in face and abdomen.
Dayton, Ohio, Wednesday, Dec. 4: Meadowdale High School on lockdown after unconfirmed reports of a student with a gun.
Cincinnati, Wednesday, Dec. 4: Lincoln Heights Elementary School locked down when a woman was shot in the neighborhood, and someone shot into the back of a school bus dropping children off.
Wake Forest, N.C., Wednesday, Dec. 4 : Wake Forest Middle School, Heritage Elementary School, Heritage Middle School, and Heritage High School all locked down after a robbery at a local bank.
Greenbriar, Ark., Wednesday, Dec. 4: Greenbrier schools on lockdown when parents of children in the district were involved in a domestic dispute off-campus.
Wingate, N.C., Wednesday, Dec. 4: All of Wingate University placed on lockdown after two people were fatally shot on a nearby street.
Nashville, Tenn., Wednesday, Dec. 4: Rutland Elementary School on lockdown after man crashes car nearby and escapes from police on foot.

That’s just a fraction of them. And that’s just one week.

Every day in this country, a school goes into lockdown after a bomb or a gun threat, a neighborhood crime or domestic dispute, or a false alarm. To prepare for such events schools must have (as mandated in some states) lockdown drills to train students on what the appropriate lockdown procedures are.

I find myself joining many other parents who worry that in teaching our children how to behave when somebody storms their classroom with a gun, we have unloosed something dramatic upon them without much serious reflection. Lockdowns are simply what we do now. My son’s elementary school was locked down the first week of school this fall when shots were heard in the neighborhood. He tells me they all pack themselves into the closet. He’s 8. But how often should we have lockdowns and why and when and how do they work? How are parents notified and what happens to the kids in the bathroom or off campus and who is studying the effects of all this?http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2013/12/lockdown_drills_what_are_school_shooting_trainings_teaching_kids.html