School lockdown... every man for themselves plan

[Anonymous]

Why do you parents think I like your kids more than I love my own kids? Newsflash: I do not.

This is a conversation we've all had (teachers) and all these anonymous "I will lay down my life!" messages are honestly very shocking because guess what, in person, ya'll talk about how much you are NOT laying down your lives for other people's kids instead of going home to your own kids. I'd have thought it would be the opposite; in person you'd wax on about how you'd become a human blanket and on an anonymous board you'd spill the tea about how you're going to be the first one in the back of the corner, ducking for cover.

The designated corner where I'm supposed to huddle my kids is catty-corner to the door. This baffles me because the safest corner in my classroom is horizontal to the door; no bullets can come through the glass and hit us across the room. I'm told the reason why it's the back corner is because in a crisis, our fight or flight instinct pushes us to flee backwards to the furthest point, which is that corner. It's against our human instinct to run to the front of the classroom towards the sound of gunfire, even though that's the safest corner. I'm worried that my instinct will push me to that safe corner and not the back of the classroom where I'll feel like a sitting duck.

[Anonymous]

Ridiculous how people expect teachers to orphan their own kids to save the kids of parents who keep voting in NRA-funded shills who refuse to do anything to address the underlying problems. Elections have consequences. Save your own damn kids by doing something to protect them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous how people expect teachers to orphan their own kids to save the kids of parents who keep voting in NRA-funded shills who refuse to do anything to address the underlying problems. Elections have consequences. Save your own damn kids by doing something to protect them.

We Americans are selfish to the core. It's in the DNA of this country. How else does one explain slavery? Or one homeless person when we are the wealthiest we've ever been?

The American way of life is take whatever we want and leave the social costs for others to deal with. That's our twisted version of "freedom."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We know he shot the kid.

And yes, shooting active shooters is indeed one of their jobs. Not the only one, but most certainly it is one.

How do we know this?

By reading every media report about the shooting so far? How do you not know this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-authorities-investigating-shooting-at-high-school/2018/03/20/4deeadee-2c39-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html?utm_term=.7577bce00f37
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-great-mills-roundup-20180321-story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/great-mills-high-school-shooting/index.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We know he shot the kid.

And yes, shooting active shooters is indeed one of their jobs. Not the only one, but most certainly it is one.

How do we know this?

By reading every media report about the shooting so far? How do you not know this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-authorities-investigating-shooting-at-high-school/2018/03/20/4deeadee-2c39-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html?utm_term=.7577bce00f37
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-great-mills-roundup-20180321-story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/great-mills-high-school-shooting/index.html

School resource officer Blaine Gaskill responded to the scene in less than a minute, the sheriff said. Gaskill fired a round at the shooter, and the shooter fired a round simultaneously, Cameron said. Cameron said he was not sure whether Gaskill's bullet hit the suspect, but he praised the officer's quick response to the situation. (CNN)

» As school systems across the country debate arming staff, state and local officials praised the actions of the school resource officer who fired at the gunman. As Gaskill fired at Rollins, Rollins “almost simultaneously” fired his gun.

» Investigators are still working to determine which bullets struck which individuals. (Baltimore Sun)

Authorities initially said Rollins shot the male victim after shooting the female victim but later said they needed to investigate further before determining whether he shot both. (Washington Post)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you parents think I like your kids more than I love my own kids? Newsflash: I do not.

This is a conversation we've all had (teachers) and all these anonymous "I will lay down my life!" messages are honestly very shocking because guess what, in person, ya'll talk about how much you are NOT laying down your lives for other people's kids instead of going home to your own kids. I'd have thought it would be the opposite; in person you'd wax on about how you'd become a human blanket and on an anonymous board you'd spill the tea about how you're going to be the first one in the back of the corner, ducking for cover.

The designated corner where I'm supposed to huddle my kids is catty-corner to the door. This baffles me because the safest corner in my classroom is horizontal to the door; no bullets can come through the glass and hit us across the room. I'm told the reason why it's the back corner is because in a crisis, our fight or flight instinct pushes us to flee backwards to the furthest point, which is that corner. It's against our human instinct to run to the front of the classroom towards the sound of gunfire, even though that's the safest corner. I'm worried that my instinct will push me to that safe corner and not the back of the classroom where I'll feel like a sitting duck.

Do I love my child more than my students yes.

Could I really live the guilt that I abandoned a group of children to be shot because a ran away. No. Never.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP, your spouse may find life is not much worth living once it comes out on social media that he was a coward and ran home while his students were slaughtered.

If my two choices are (a) dead, or (b) reviled on social media, I'll take (b) every time.

What if your child's teacher abandons them, would you be okay with that?

[Anonymous]

Actually, the best guidance now is that if you can evacuate quickly with your class then you should. This makes a lot more sense to me than the old plan of hunkering down and waiting for a gunman to try to access your classroom. Having lived through an evacuation on 9/11 and other circumstances, I would much rather be proactive about getting my students to safety if I can and that means NOT being locked in a room waiting for a gunman trying to shoot his way in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the best guidance now is that if you can evacuate quickly with your class then you should. This makes a lot more sense to me than the old plan of hunkering down and waiting for a gunman to try to access your classroom. Having lived through an evacuation on 9/11 and other circumstances, I would much rather be proactive about getting my students to safety if I can and that means NOT being locked in a room waiting for a gunman trying to shoot his way in.

So then we go back to the 90s style school shootings where the gun man pulled the fire alarm and sat outside to pick people off as they came out the doors.

How about we get rid of guns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the best guidance now is that if you can evacuate quickly with your class then you should. This makes a lot more sense to me than the old plan of hunkering down and waiting for a gunman to try to access your classroom. Having lived through an evacuation on 9/11 and other circumstances, I would much rather be proactive about getting my students to safety if I can and that means NOT being locked in a room waiting for a gunman trying to shoot his way in.

So then we go back to the 90s style school shootings where the gun man pulled the fire alarm and sat outside to pick people off as they came out the doors.

How about we get rid of guns?

Um, I am the FP and I'm not saying that we shouldn't have gun control. It isn't one or the other and you're either being extremely disingenuous or incredibly shortsighted if you think it is.

I think you should read the first-hand accounts of the children at Virginia Tech or Columbine and the parent accounts of the children in Newtown. In all of those incidents, usually the children who had the best outcomes were the children who acted with immediacy by fleeing or by controlling or by other avoidance tactics. Now, not all of the children had the same opportunities because of where they were when the incident began but those who did take action rather than wait around certainly had better survival rates.

I know the OP is being snarky with the "every man for themselves plan" title but the emerging best practices are for the individuals being threated to be aware and ready to act in their own best interests. And, frankly, if you read of any other tragedies like the Titanic or 9/11 or other such occurrences, the people with the best outcomes usually were the people who immediately took action to help themselves. In some cases, death is a foregone conclusion (like being on the floor the planes hit) but in other cases being assertive and proactive helped people save their own lives.

Being prepared doesn't negate the importance of implementing legislation to help mentally ill people get the services they need and to limit/prohibit their access to weapons. We need to change our practices in the US if we want to stop the tragedies. That means getting help for the mentally ill and doing everything we can to keep weapons out of their hands. But we also need to be prepared in case the worst does happen at our schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the best guidance now is that if you can evacuate quickly with your class then you should. This makes a lot more sense to me than the old plan of hunkering down and waiting for a gunman to try to access your classroom. Having lived through an evacuation on 9/11 and other circumstances, I would much rather be proactive about getting my students to safety if I can and that means NOT being locked in a room waiting for a gunman trying to shoot his way in.

So then we go back to the 90s style school shootings where the gun man pulled the fire alarm and sat outside to pick people off as they came out the doors.

How about we get rid of guns?

Um, I am the FP and I'm not saying that we shouldn't have gun control. It isn't one or the other and you're either being extremely disingenuous or incredibly shortsighted if you think it is.

I think you should read the first-hand accounts of the children at Virginia Tech or Columbine and the parent accounts of the children in Newtown. In all of those incidents, usually the children who had the best outcomes were the children who acted with immediacy by fleeing or by controlling or by other avoidance tactics. Now, not all of the children had the same opportunities because of where they were when the incident began but those who did take action rather than wait around certainly had better survival rates.

I know the OP is being snarky with the "every man for themselves plan" title but the emerging best practices are for the individuals being threated to be aware and ready to act in their own best interests. And, frankly, if you read of any other tragedies like the Titanic or 9/11 or other such occurrences, the people with the best outcomes usually were the people who immediately took action to help themselves. In some cases, death is a foregone conclusion (like being on the floor the planes hit) but in other cases being assertive and proactive helped people save their own lives.

Being prepared doesn't negate the importance of implementing legislation to help mentally ill people get the services they need and to limit/prohibit their access to weapons. We need to change our practices in the US if we want to stop the tragedies. That means getting help for the mentally ill and doing everything we can to keep weapons out of their hands. But we also need to be prepared in case the worst does happen at our schools.

Blah blah blah yes, get rid of the guns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We know he shot the kid.

And yes, shooting active shooters is indeed one of their jobs. Not the only one, but most certainly it is one.

How do we know this?

By reading every media report about the shooting so far? How do you not know this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-authorities-investigating-shooting-at-high-school/2018/03/20/4deeadee-2c39-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html?utm_term=.7577bce00f37
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-great-mills-roundup-20180321-story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/great-mills-high-school-shooting/index.html

The shooter took his own life. The police officer did not fire the fatal shot.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-great-mills-shooting-update-20180326-story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We know he shot the kid.

And yes, shooting active shooters is indeed one of their jobs. Not the only one, but most certainly it is one.

How do we know this?

By reading every media report about the shooting so far? How do you not know this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-authorities-investigating-shooting-at-high-school/2018/03/20/4deeadee-2c39-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html?utm_term=.7577bce00f37
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-great-mills-roundup-20180321-story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/great-mills-high-school-shooting/index.html

The shooter took his own life. The police officer did not fire the fatal shot.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-great-mills-shooting-update-20180326-story.html

NP. True; however that was only determined by the autopsy. Either way the police officer deserves much praise and kudos for his bravery and swift action!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NP. True; however that was only determined by the autopsy. Either way the police officer deserves much praise and kudos for his bravery and swift action!!!

Yes, the police officer does.

Maybe next time people will wait for the facts to be established, instead of deciding that they know what happened.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a teacher, but if I were at a park, mall, store, etc and there was a shooter situation I would absolutely try to help anyone who was in the vicinity, especially kids. I can't believe how many people would hide or run and leave a 5 year old in the line of fire.