School Lockdowns Multiply Amid Fears Of Virginia Tech Copycats
April 21st, 2007
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
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It was 10:10 a.m. Thursday morning and I was 15 minutes away from finishing my second performance with a No Bullying theme in my non-blogging incarnation at an elementary school in Torrance, California. The kids were laughing because I had just gotten five volunteers up to the stage and the students had just put on ratty wigs and were JUST about to lip-sync “Tutti Frutti” while I would provide nutty voices using ventriloquism.
Then, in the back of the room, I could see a teacher grimace. She raised her hand and went out the door and rushed back in as a voice came out on the loudspeaker: “Teachers. The school is now in lockdown.”
Teachers were asked to take the kids to their pre-arranged positions. The kids looked puzzled, not terribly alarmed. (”What’s this lockdown for?” “What’s a lockdown?”) I stood there in the auditorium as they filed out. A teacher rushed in.
“Come on,” a teacher told me. “We’re in lockdown. You can stay in the office until this is over…”
And so it went. Even though I joked with the staff (”I didn’t think my jokes were THAT bad so all of the kids had to rush out! I prefer they lock people IN the room when I perform!”) what was going on was this:
The horrific Virginia Tech massacre had once again put law enforcement into mega-prevention mode.
It was clear that there was a fear of copycats. (A hypnotherapist yesterday told me it was a truly understandable fear..) And, I was told, the sheriff had been after some guy who was “circling the neighborhood,” getting too close to the school for comfort…and no one wanted to take any chances.
We talked about what we would do; I offered to do the remaining programs in the afternoon. But, in the end, the lockdown was lifted after 20 minutes…and I could do the final show at 11:15 a.m. as scheduled.
But my experience was not an isolated one.
Schools from coast to coast have reported lockdowns:
TEACHERS in two northern California cities locked classroom doors, lowered blinds and kept nearly 22,000 school children inside all day today after a man threatened to go on a killing spree inspired by Monday’s mass murder at Virginia Tech.Possibly hyped on the drug ice and psychotic, he was said to have an AK-47 assault rifle, explosives and poison.
Police patrolled public schools in Yuba City and nearby Marysville 65 km north of California’s state capital Sacramento after Jeffery Thomas Carney, who officials said had a criminal record, allegedly said he intended to make the mass murders at Virginia Tech “look mild”.
Local officials say Carney called his pastor at the United Methodist Church yesterday evening and said he was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, improvised explosive devices and poison and would seek to provoke a confrontation with police to “commit suicide-by-cop”.
For the second day in a row, at least one Charlotte-Mecklenburg school was put on lockdown.Eleven area schools have gone on lockdown since Wednesday, and parents want to know why they weren’t immediately alerted.
Thursday morning, the sound of gunfire sent students indoors and put Nations Ford Elementary on lockdown. Lockdown means no one was allowed in – or out.
A short time later, the threat was ruled out and the lockdown was lifted.
It’s why Bud Cesena, the director of the CMS Law Enforcement Division, says schools use caution when alerting parents of these incidents while they are happening.
For Columbia Public Schools, yesterday’s tragic shooting was a learning experience.Five schools locked down yesterday after police responded to reports of gunfire in a vehicle near Grindstone Parkway and Bearfield Road. The shots killed 17-year-old Tedarrian Robinson.
Bearfield students were at recess when they heard the gunshots, said Lynn Barnett, assistant superintendent of student services. A teacher got the children inside the building. Law enforcement officials called for the school, along with Rock Bridge High, the career center, Gentry Middle and Rock Bridge Elementary, to lock down.
Rock Bridge Assistant Principal Kathy Ritter said office staff knew students weren’t in immediate danger but said the school was in somewhat of a panic until teachers knew what was happening.
“When we initially went on lockdown, teachers and students didn’t know what was going on. There was some anxiety. Students and teachers took it very seriously,� she said. With recent shootings at Virginia Tech University and other schools around the nation, “we’re definitely at a heightened state of awareness.�
Students at two schools were locked in their classrooms for about 30 minutes Wednesday while officers subdued a student who held a knife in a school office, police said.A police officer used a stun gun to incapacitate the 18-year-old student, who was then disarmed, said police Lt. Dan Williams. No injuries were reported.
School officials in this Columbus suburb placed Lincoln High School under lockdown around 9:45 a.m. after the student entered the front office with a fixed-blade knife and made verbal threats toward himself and general, vague threats against other students, Williams said.
Neighboring Lincoln Elementary was locked down as a precaution.As a staff member in the high school office was calling 911, two police officers assigned to the school happened to arrive in the office on another matter and subdued the student, Williams said.
He said use of the stun gun was appropriate because the student was holding a knife in close proximity to school staff members. Williams and the principal said the student wasn’t threatening the staffers.
Police identified the student as Jordan Pryce. No charges were immediately filed.
At a conservative estimate, lockdowns have occurred in seven states.
I’ve seen this kind of response before and the question is going to be whether vigilance is sustained or is a kind of faddish response to a high-profile security catastrophe. Law enforcement and school officials have to strike a balance between overreacting and reacting to protect students (and themselves). The students at the school I visited weren’t terribly traumatized by the security lockdown.
But when there have been events in the past (such as Columbine or here in San Diego when a schoolgirl died after not wearing her seatbelt) where law enforcement and officials clamp down but then as time goes on it gets back to “normal.”
The problem: no one should let their guards down since “normal” may never be “normal” again…
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 21st, 2007 at 12:12 am and is filed under Virginia Tech, Mass Murder, Crime, Society, Law & Legal Matters, Education. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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