Changes to lockdown/active assailant protocols

[Anonymous]

Have your kids been through a lockdown drill since the start of this school year? Have they discussed how their school is handling active assailants?

Per one of my children’s high schools, now lockdowns are only for situations like a police manhunt nearby or an unauthorized person bypassing procedures for entering the school. Lockdowns will no longer be used in situations where there is an active assailant (such as an active shooter).

Since experts now advise that in the event of an active shooter, you should run till you can’t run, hide till you can’t hide, and fight till you can’t fight (in that order), students are being taught an acronym for this: ADD. Avoid Deny Defend. Students were told that they will not be practicing active assailant drills because such drills could be traumatic and because students aren’t supposed to follow a predetermined plan or have any muscle memory from practicing, the way they would with a tornado drill. This is quite the reversal of previous lockdown protocols for active shooters. I don’t know what the active assailant protocol is for younger students.

Also, Shelter in Place and Modified Shelter in Place orders have been renamed Secure and Hold. I’m not sure if the actual protocols changed. Secure is for situations like a wild animal wandering into the school. Hold is for situations where there’s zero threat present, but the school wants to keep the halls clear, such as someone having a medical emergency and EMTs arriving.

[Anonymous]

That all sounds reasonable? At my biotech company, we were taught this acronym years ago. I just hope it isn’t a free for all and there is some structure though.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the students being given more flexibility. I think this is the right move, but I still fear that it may result in pandemonium that complicates the situation for first responders.

[Anonymous]

My spouse is a school shooting survivor and practicing for an active shooter absolutely saved the lives of teachers and students. People need to know where the safe spots are to his if they can’t run in addition to how to run out from each school space.

[Anonymous]

Need to justify the ongoing salaries of the security theater architects.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a total mess. But better than gun control laws for sure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have your kids been through a lockdown drill since the start of this school year? Have they discussed how their school is handling active assailants?

Per one of my children’s high schools, now lockdowns are only for situations like a police manhunt nearby or an unauthorized person bypassing procedures for entering the school. Lockdowns will no longer be used in situations where there is an active assailant (such as an active shooter).

Since experts now advise that in the event of an active shooter, you should run till you can’t run, hide till you can’t hide, and fight till you can’t fight (in that order), students are being taught an acronym for this: ADD. Avoid Deny Defend. Students were told that they will not be practicing active assailant drills because such drills could be traumatic and because students aren’t supposed to follow a predetermined plan or have any muscle memory from practicing, the way they would with a tornado drill. This is quite the reversal of previous lockdown protocols for active shooters. I don’t know what the active assailant protocol is for younger students.

Also, Shelter in Place and Modified Shelter in Place orders have been renamed Secure and Hold. I’m not sure if the actual protocols changed. Secure is for situations like a wild animal wandering into the school. Hold is for situations where there’s zero threat present, but the school wants to keep the halls clear, such as someone having a medical emergency and EMTs arriving.

'secure' for activity in neighborhood that is outside school building and they won't release people who are inside the school until all clear outside? An example of this was police searching for people who were thought to have been involved in car jack in another paper of town

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse is a school shooting survivor and practicing for an active shooter absolutely saved the lives of teachers and students. People need to know where the safe spots are to his if they can’t run in addition to how to run out from each school space.

I wonder what guidance teachers have been given. Apparently, they can still direct students, but students can also make their own choices.

[Anonymous]

BCC went into secure today but it sounds like it was more of a lockdown. If there is a threat to the school, wouldn't people be evacuated out of the building, not stay where there is the threat? What is the change in protocols?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BCC went into secure today but it sounds like it was more of a lockdown. If there is a threat to the school, wouldn't people be evacuated out of the building, not stay where there is the threat? What is the change in protocols?

The threat to BCC was made to the police shortly before dismissal. The police notified school officials that the person(s) making the threat claimed they were on their way to the school, not that they’d already planted a bomb. In this specific case, law enforcement decided to prevent anyone from entering the school.

[Anonymous]

Is this similar to the incidents made to various universities within the last two weeks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this similar to the incidents made to various universities within the last two weeks?

Are you referring to this?:

"In recent weeks, there has been an increase of false active shooter reports, targeting institutions of higher education across the country. Approximately 20 colleges and universities have been impacted.

We take these matters very seriously. Whenever we get a call that impacts our campus community, we take into account the totality of the circumstances and respond accordingly.

At 4:17 a.m. today, UMPD was notified by the Prince George's County Public Safety Communications of a similar report in the McKeldin Library area.

A UMPD officer was already patrolling McKeldin Mall. That officer had not heard or seen anything suspicious, and UMPD did not receive a notification from our gun-shot detection technology system. UMPD did not receive any other calls from our community reporting gunfire.

With the assistance from our allied agencies and our Security Operations Center, it was determined that this call was a false report and there was no threat to our community.

We understand how this can be distressing to members of our community. Below are resources that are available to you should you need to reach out.

As always, we encourage our community to report suspicious activity and/or behavior to UMPD immediately by calling..."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse is a school shooting survivor and practicing for an active shooter absolutely saved the lives of teachers and students. People need to know where the safe spots are to his if they can’t run in addition to how to run out from each school space.

+1

[Anonymous]

Did your kid's school go through with this training? Was it traumatic for students and staff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your kid's school go through with this training? Was it traumatic for students and staff?

I work in a school. It’s no different than previous years other than what they’re calling them. Each of these take just a few minutes.

There are always going to be extra anxious kids or kids with trauma. But really, the average kid just goes through the motions without any comment or specific concern. Be careful to not put your anxiety on your kid. They’ve grown up with these drills and are used to them.