The shooters are usually young men that grew up doing shooter drills. They know all the hiding spots and that lights off mean nothing. These drills are pointless.

Anonymous wrote:We were notified that my kid's school had a "pre-planned" lockdown drill yesterday. My kid said it was in case "someone broke into the school". Why they have a "pre-planned" drill at the end of the school year is beyond me.

They locked the doors, covered the windows and the door, and sat in the back of the classroom with the lights out.

Because there was a school shooting recently. How is this even a question?

We were notified that my kid's school had a "pre-planned" lockdown drill yesterday. My kid said it was in case "someone broke into the school". Why they have a "pre-planned" drill at the end of the school year is beyond me.

They locked the doors, covered the windows and the door, and sat in the back of the classroom with the lights out.

We have a bank in our area that was robbed twice in K and once in first grade. They locked down the school because of the possibility of an armed bank robber. I am pretty sure that DS thought that the drills were for bank robbery scenarios through 2nd grade.

We got a letter home that they were having a drill yesterday. DS doesn't discuss the drills but he did say that he didn't finish his iReady because he had some hard math problems.

Have your 1st graders watch Kindergarten Cop. Fire drills and fires in school -- funny. Bad guys with guns -- scary. I'm sure that'll help.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

aCtually, you know what, your kid is probably just confused. I'm sure they told them what kind of a drill it is, but your kid didn't understand (which is fine and totally normal).

Nope, not confused. The first was explained as what you do if there's a fire in the hallway and you can't safely leave the classroom that way. The other is the more traditional, fire somewhere in the building drill. He's very detail oriented and very into logistics for that sort of thing, so he's not confused. And I'd be pissed if they talked about active shooter drills in FIRST grade - totally inappropriate.

Why is it appropriate to discuss a possible deadly fire to first graders but inappropriate to discuss an active shooter? Sadly it’s more likely your first grader is going to be hurt by a shooter in a school than a fire. What grade is reality okay to share? Fires are pretty scary too.

A fire isn’t aiming for you. You can outrun a fire. A fire isn’t personally targeting you. I can’t believe kids can understand this and you can’t. The assault rifle shooting at you and your class is way scarier and more traumatizing than a fire.

Agree to disagree. Fires and smoke are deadly and unpredictable. If one actually happened at a school (haven’t in years), it would be terrifying and traumatizing. Sadly these school shooters are the same. They have no specific grudges. They are random forms of violence that are terrifying and unpredictable. Explaining dangers and strategies are for protection. Safety drills of all kinds are triggering but that needs to be balanced against safety. What happened in Texas shows adults charged with protecting kids did not practice enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

aCtually, you know what, your kid is probably just confused. I'm sure they told them what kind of a drill it is, but your kid didn't understand (which is fine and totally normal).

Nope, not confused. The first was explained as what you do if there's a fire in the hallway and you can't safely leave the classroom that way. The other is the more traditional, fire somewhere in the building drill. He's very detail oriented and very into logistics for that sort of thing, so he's not confused. And I'd be pissed if they talked about active shooter drills in FIRST grade - totally inappropriate.

Why is it appropriate to discuss a possible deadly fire to first graders but inappropriate to discuss an active shooter? Sadly it’s more likely your first grader is going to be hurt by a shooter in a school than a fire. What grade is reality okay to share? Fires are pretty scary too.

A fire isn’t aiming for you. You can outrun a fire. A fire isn’t personally targeting you. I can’t believe kids can understand this and you can’t. The assault rifle shooting at you and your class is way scarier and more traumatizing than a fire.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

aCtually, you know what, your kid is probably just confused. I'm sure they told them what kind of a drill it is, but your kid didn't understand (which is fine and totally normal).

Nope, not confused. The first was explained as what you do if there's a fire in the hallway and you can't safely leave the classroom that way. The other is the more traditional, fire somewhere in the building drill. He's very detail oriented and very into logistics for that sort of thing, so he's not confused. And I'd be pissed if they talked about active shooter drills in FIRST grade - totally inappropriate.

Why is it appropriate to discuss a possible deadly fire to first graders but inappropriate to discuss an active shooter? Sadly it’s more likely your first grader is going to be hurt by a shooter in a school than a fire. What grade is reality okay to share? Fires are pretty scary too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

I would complain to the administration about this - that would be very confusing for a young child.

Teacher here. It isn’t. They explain there are two types of emergencies. Some you leave for. Some you don’t. It is quite literally traumatizing to tell 5-6 year olds a man with an assault rifle may break in and shoot them all to death. It’s a fine line between preparing them for a procedure and scaring them to death.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

aCtually, you know what, your kid is probably just confused. I'm sure they told them what kind of a drill it is, but your kid didn't understand (which is fine and totally normal).

Nope, not confused. The first was explained as what you do if there's a fire in the hallway and you can't safely leave the classroom that way. The other is the more traditional, fire somewhere in the building drill. He's very detail oriented and very into logistics for that sort of thing, so he's not confused. And I'd be pissed if they talked about active shooter drills in FIRST grade - totally inappropriate.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

aCtually, you know what, your kid is probably just confused. I'm sure they told them what kind of a drill it is, but your kid didn't understand (which is fine and totally normal).

Anonymous wrote:Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

I would complain to the administration about this - that would be very confusing for a young child.

Anonymous wrote:We are new to FCPS and DD reports they have not had a single lockdown drill at her school all year. Is this normal? I’m pissed.

Your new to FCPS and already here in DCUM complaining about the schools...

I have kids in both Middle and High school, lockdown drills happen every year!

Not sure of your kid's age, but they may not tell them they are lockdown drills. Over the weekend, my first grader was telling me about the two types of fire drills. One is lock the door and hide under the desks/climb out the windows and the other is file through the hallway to exit the school. They are being told it's a fire drill to not scare them, but that first one sounds more like an active shooter drill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter is mistaken (or was absent during the drills). All FCPS schools have at least two lockdown drills during every school year. If you want to know when these drills occurred, then you need to call your school's front office.

agreed. Front office can tell you when they happened. They happened.

It’s a state mandate. We have to practice every drill at least once (fire, lockdown, tornado, bomb threat and earthquake) and some multiple times. Fire drills occur 4x in the first month of school. Lockdown drills are twice a year.