Since Christmas, Grady has brought up practicing lock downs at school, not once, but twice. It certainly is a sign of the times as we most definitely did not have those while I was growing up. We did fire drills and that was about it. With many sad things happening in our schools these days, I guess it is good that they practice what they should do in the event something like that should happen. But honestly, I hate to even think about the fact that it could happen. I refuse to let me my mind even go there.
What I did want to share was how Grady talked about it and what he has been taught about lock downs in school as I for one was curious how you explain to a group of 6 year olds what you are 'practicing'.
Setting the scene: It is 7am and Grady is explaining to Cooper what a lock down is since Cooper didn't know. He had dreamed about it the night before and was telling me about it.
Grady: A lock down is when an animal gets in the school.
Pause
Grady: Like a snake or a coyote. Wait, we don't have coyotes here.
Me: Actually, yes we do have Coyotes.
Grady: Oh.
Me: So what happens next?
Grady: We pretend we aren't there.
Me: How?
Grady: We pretend to sleep.
This broke my heart. First, I didn't like that he was dreaming about it. I figure they must have practiced one this month and it is fresh in his mind. The fact that he dreamed about it must mean that it is still on his mind.
The mental image of all these grade one students laying on the floor pretending to sleep is just too much. I couldn't stop thinking of the Sandy Hook shootings just over 2 years ago. Something that my son's class practiced was reality for a similar aged group of kids.
As I wrote this post I found myself going back to read about the shootings and all the emotions I felt that day resurfaced. What kind of world do we live in where someone could harm a group of 6 year olds? I personally don't understand it. I don't understand why we have to do lock downs in the schools with our 6 year olds. I wish we were raising our children in an environment where this type of training wasn't required.
When all is said and done, I would rather that the teachers and staff of the school practice and are prepared in the hopefully very unlikely event that they have to put these practices into use for real. So while I hate the idea that these lock downs have to be done, I support that our teachers are putting constantly working towards protecting our kids.
For information purposes, here is the information I found on the
Calgary Police service webpage:
School lockdowns
A school lock down is a procedure which is initiated when school officials believe that there is a credible threat to student and staff safety. Lockdowns are used to protect students from school shooters, bomb threats, and other forms of violence, but they can also be used when police are engaged in an operation nearby, or when a national disaster has been declared.
When a lock down is ordered, people are told to stay inside their classrooms and lock the doors to prevent people from entering. Windows mist be shut, locked and covered with blinds to obscure visibility. People are encouraged to stay away from doors and windows. The goal of a school lock down is to keep students and staff safe. It is important to comply with the lock down for safety reasons.
The SRO assigned to the school will arrange, on average, two lockdowns per year. The first will be an "announced lockdown." All staff will be prepared for a lockdown as they have been advised a drill will be occurring. When the announcement is made "lockdown, lockdown, lockdown", students and staff will follow protocol by locking all doors, staying in their classrooms away from the door, and keeping quiet until a police officer opens the door with a key advising the lockdown is over.
The second lockdown will be unannounced, where all the same protocol is followed, with the exception of notifying the staff. The only staff aware would be the administration as they would be announcing lockdown over the intercom.
