Stupid cartoons like this one shouldn’t be used by any group that wants to be taken seriously by intelligent people. |
+1 I also believe that if APE had put out such a cartoon the response would be quite different. And also so one of the most popular clubs at APS high schools is Rifle club. It amazes me that the same people who scream about how anti-gun they are have no problem sending their child off to target practice each week. |
I'm in Smart Restart and I think the post was ill-timed. Not while our kids were still hiding under desks. I also agree that APE would have been crucified had they posted a similar cartoon, particularly at that time. I agree with the message underlying the cartoon, but it shouldn't have been posted when it was. |
+1. Having different schools on the same property taking completely opposite response approaches indicates a failure by APS to have consistent and comprehensive policies that are actually followed by the schools. I don’t know where in the process things broke down, but the way this was handled definitely indicates a breakdown. Fortunately nothing bad happened in this instance, but this should be a big red flag to APS that they need to fix things before something worse happens. |
How interesting you assume they are the same people. You know what they say about assuming. |
How do you lock down a school that has released for the day? |
First, there were still students in the building for after-school activities. If shelter in place was warranted for the school 100 feet away, it was warranted for people still at Williamsburg. Second, if there was cause for concern about the safety of students out on the field, they all should have at least been given the option of coming into the building rather than being told to leave the premises. If there were kids there who weren’t Williamsburg students, I don’t know how much authority the school would have had over them, but telling Williamsburg students they had to leave the premises rather than at least giving them an option to shelter inside was irresponsible. Some of those students live inside what had been cordoned off for the Yorktown response so just going home wasn’t a feasible option at the moment. Williamsburg did not care. And if there truly was not threat in the community to warrant sheltering in place, then APS should re-evaluate why Discovery was ordered to do so, putting lots of young children through trauma. |
Perhaps the field was cleared as part of the Discovery lockdown (which definitely seemed to be OTT). We live inside the cordoned off area. My WMS student and friends who also live in the cordoned off area got home just fine. Many of the police in the area were joking and shooting the breeze with parents who had come to pick up their kids. People were walking dogs, it was a beautiful day, and the kids walking were safe as can be. |
I am glad to hear it was fine for your kids. We ended up with a couple of kids at our house for a few hours (we live right near Williamsburg) because they weren’t sure it was okay to cross into it (their parents weren’t home at the time), and were generally freaked out about walking that way. |
There is a very cavalier attitude on the part of some posters here that I truly hope is based solely in the fact that this appears to have been a hoax. Had there been an actual threat, things could have turned out very differently. Hopefully we will never have occasion to find out, but the sentiment that we should be wholly unconcerned with the lack of consistency in APS’s safety protocols is surprising to me (especially when the school that seems to have taken the most relaxed approach is one with a reputation for poor communication and management). |
Two different schools responding differently when one has dismissed for the day and one has not does not indicate a lack of consistency in safety protocols. My WMS kid walked all the way home before Discovery even went into lockdown. |
My WMS kid was in the gym for the wrestling match getting texts that Discovery next door was on lockdown and was sufficiently freaked out since they were not. Remember, these are adolescent minds not adults and no one knew at the time how real the threat was. Our kid and their friends were afraid to leave WMS after the event since siblings next door were locked down. |
There. Were. Still. Students. Inside. Williamsburg. |
Is APS response coordinated by the police though? Because if that’s the case it really is contingent in the police to provide direction. Have they ever done an active shooter drill - not the students but the police and the admin at schools? |
Williamsburg was notified of some kind of risk/threat, because they came outside shortly after 2:45 (the same time Discovery got the call to lock down) to end after-school intramural sports that were happening outside. Kids who were not part of official WMS after-school activities were told to leave the premises and apparently were not given the option of returning to the building until it was deemed safe. Despite feeling that there was a need to clear the outdoor areas, WMS apparently did nothing to secure the safety of people still inside then building. This would tend to indicate they believed whatever threat might exist was outside the building, in which case it is inexcusable not to ensure the safety of students who were outside on school grounds at the time. |