kitchen table math, the sequel: mock lockdown

Friday, May 25, 2007

mock lockdown

Are all schools having "mock lockdowns"?

Is this standard practice now?

Also, do mock lockdowns work?

Do they make students safer in case of a school shooting? Do we know?
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

They always practice whatever the catastrophe de jour is. I think the schools in my area do this as well.

In the 70's when I was in elementary school we practiced what should be done in case of a nuclear strike. The difference is there have been school shootings but there never was a nuclear strike. (As if hiding in the basement would protect you against nuclear radiation)


Maybe after these shootings they were able to figure out that had Johhny kept his head out of the window he wouldn't have been shot, or had the door been locked from the inside the intruder wouldn't have entered the room. Simple things.

For a bomb threat evacuate, for a shooter, lock down. What if it's both at the same time?

May 25, 2007 at 6:05 AM
LynnG said...

My youngest started practicing last year in kindergarten. She hated that the most. They had to crouch down very low and stay very quiet behind the coat/backpack shelf.

Does anyone else here remember doing tornado drills?

Lots of giggling in the hallways.

May 25, 2007 at 10:44 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

They had to crouch down very low and stay very quiet behind the coat/backpack shelf.

Does anyone else here remember doing tornado drills?

Lots of giggling in the hallways.

I always enjoyed the bomb drills!

That's because my mom didn't think the Cold War was real.

May 25, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Anonymous said...

Lockdowns work. My school did lockdown drills for years. When we had a shooting everyone knew how to react and what to do. Doing the drills helps everyone react faster which can be the difference between life and death. Without the drills each teacher would have to figure out that they needed to lock the door and keep the kids away from the windows and doors. Thanks to drills these reactions are automatic. They also keep panic to a minimum during the real thing.

May 25, 2007 at 12:41 PM
Doug Sundseth said...

Lockdown is a reasonable response to a shooter in the neighborhood. It is precisely the wrong response to a spree-killer in the school.

Now, it's not clear that we should worry about spree-killers, since they are such low-probability events, but if the school purports to use this tactic in such a case, they are foolish. With spree killers, your choices are to be somewhere else (that is, evacuate by any means available, including jumping out of windows), fight back (preferably with weapons, but even improvised weapons can be useful), or hope that he kills other people for long enough that he doesn't get to you before he dies.

A lockdown supports only the last of those.

May 25, 2007 at 3:49 PM
Doug Sundseth said...

Just in case somebody didn't see this story, here's a story about a school in Texas with a better understanding of the tactics.

May 25, 2007 at 3:52 PM
Gary Carson said...

Lockdowns are for one reason. To make the job of police/school administration easier. They don't make anyone safer and in many cases do the opposite.

May 25, 2007 at 5:34 PM

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