When we were at FCPS our kid knew to run to a good friends house who lived in walking distance to her elementary school. Thankfully that was never needed. I think several other friends had the same plan lol. You want to run first, if you can.

Most schools need the trailers sadly. Even Oakton HS which just finished a huge remodel still needs them. They didn't plan for more kids I guess. Mosaic Elementary has the entire 6th grade class and some of 5th in trailers as well. If they reno I hope they take that into consideration. That number isn't going to drop anytime soon.

They need bulletproof double entrance doors/windows and armed security guard, also bulletproof door/wall/window for each classroom, also remove the trailer classrooms. If you’ve been to school you know you can simply ring doorbell and let in, from either main or back door. Everything’s been the same for the past 5 years since my DC started school at fcps and not a single thing changed for security.

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Except this isnt' what schools do. They have them all just sit in classrooms like being quiet is going to save anyone's life when a guy with a machine gun walks in. It's ridiculous. Not real life based at all. Because they can't have the students flee.

Really we should be enacting GUN CONTROL instead we do this. Ridiculous.

There is zero reason a first grader needs to use the words "active shooter drill" - that will make them anxious and won't make them safer.

Our school does stay in the classroom and leave the classroom drills which is age appropriate.

In VA, they are finally allowing the youngest kids to skip this. So my 3rd grader did it this year, but my Kinder kid did not. I think pre-k, K and 1st were able to skip it.

Also, they often call them something else. Our principal always sends a notice about it when they happen.

Anonymous wrote:My child’s best friend had a panic attack during a lockdown drill. Teachers do the best they can, but the kids talk to each other about why they are practicing hiding.

I also learned in a school drill planning session that it has been years since anyone died in a fire in a building with sprinklers. So given the respective mortality rates maybe we needed to increase lockdown drills and decrease the other safety procedure drills. Our local police wanted to shoot blanks in the hall so teachers could learn the sound of gunshots. We managed to talk them out of that while students are in the building but they may revisit in the summer. It was the most horrifying meeting I have attended.

I once taught at a school that brought in ALICE training. During the training we were sent to our classrooms to just pretend we were in there working. Then they entered the building and started shooting blank shots . You had to react based on where you heard the guns whether you could run or if you had to barricade your door and hunker down. They moved through the school fake shooting and attempting doors to see if your lock or barricade worked. It was terrible. They better not ever think to put kids through that. One of my coworkers had been at Virginia Tech the day of the shooting in 2007 and he had to get permission not to participate because even the idea was so triggering to his PTSD.

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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.

No. They were in the room and died with the kids. It shows THE COPS left them in there to die. No amount of lockdowns prevents school shooters, idiot. No amount of hiding in a dark classroom means an assault rifle will not tear your body to shreds if you’re shot. You are honestly terrible

What a moron you must be in real life. Drills help prepare for disaster but of course they don’t stop them. They just help prepare students and staff for worst case scenarios. There have been times where shooters were foiled because of procedures put in place to limit damage but you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about so keep believing it’s pointless to do anything.

They really don’t. If the gunman wants in your room and gets in, you’re done. No stapler you throw at him will save you. I’m a teacher, I’ve done these drills for years. They do nothing. School shootings happen. SRO and police with guns don’t engage the gunman. If he doesn’t go to your room, you’ll be ok. If he does, you’ll probably die. The drills are meaningless. And if isn’t the teachers fault . We could drill every month and the shootings would happen and people would still die in them. Because the lockdowns are reactive and not a solution. Gun control and assault rifle bans are the proactive solution we will never get.

My child’s best friend had a panic attack during a lockdown drill. Teachers do the best they can, but the kids talk to each other about why they are practicing hiding.

I also learned in a school drill planning session that it has been years since anyone died in a fire in a building with sprinklers. So given the respective mortality rates maybe we needed to increase lockdown drills and decrease the other safety procedure drills. Our local police wanted to shoot blanks in the hall so teachers could learn the sound of gunshots. We managed to talk them out of that while students are in the building but they may revisit in the summer. It was the most horrifying meeting I have attended.

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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.

No. They were in the room and died with the kids. It shows THE COPS left them in there to die. No amount of lockdowns prevents school shooters, idiot. No amount of hiding in a dark classroom means an assault rifle will not tear your body to shreds if you’re shot. You are honestly terrible

What a moron you must be in real life. Drills help prepare for disaster but of course they don’t stop them. They just help prepare students and staff for worst case scenarios. There have been times where shooters were foiled because of procedures put in place to limit damage but you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about so keep believing it’s pointless to do anything.

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.

What school in FCPS did this happen in?

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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.

No. They were in the room and died with the kids. It shows THE COPS left them in there to die. No amount of lockdowns prevents school shooters, idiot. No amount of hiding in a dark classroom means an assault rifle will not tear your body to shreds if you’re shot. You are honestly terrible

They don't call them lockdown drills.

My DD reports it's for a "suspicious person" and she (THANK GOD) still doesn't realize why they do these drills. I realize the days of that being true are numbered but I am holding on to it.

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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?

Because they called it "pre-planned". Obviously they did it because of the recent shooting. Don't kid us by telling us it was "pre-planned".

All drills are pre planned. They “pre planned” it after the school shootings.

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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?

Because they called it "pre-planned". Obviously they did it because of the recent shooting. Don't kid us by telling us it was "pre-planned".