Lockdown Drill Alarms Parents

A recent story out of Carlsbad, NM brings to light an all too common problem school administrators’ face when conducting a lockdown drill – backlash from parents. (http://www.schoolsafetynews.com/eventdetail.php?ID=392).

Parents complaining about a lockdown drill! I wonder how often parents call to complain about a fire drill? My guess is not too often, as a culture we have come to accept fire drills. Consider this:
• The last time a student died as a result of fire in a school in the U.S. was in 1958.
• From 2003 through the 2007 school year, there were 147 school-related violent deaths.

Now this was dramatic gap was not always the case. Prior to 1958, the nation faced horrific school fires and the fire safety professionals, legislators, educators and parents enacted changes; and those changes have undoubtedly saved lives. Over the last 17 or so years, we have been painfully been experiencing a need to change the safety climate in schools. Lockdown drills are a critical component of this change and parents are complaining. Parents and educators, if you need a good reason to start conducting lockdown drills, there are 45 of them at the end of this post.

Always collaborate with your local response agencies on emergency planning issues.

Stay safe!
Brad

This post is provided by SafePlans (www.safeplans.com), an all-hazards preparedness solution including emergency plans, staff training, and detailed site mapping.

Click here to learn more about the author

1. Feb. 2, 1996, Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class. Moses Lake, Wash
2. Feb. 19, 1997, Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16. Bethel, Alaska
3. Oct. 1, 1997, Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan. Pearl, Miss.
4. Dec. 1, 1997, Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School. West Paducah, Ky.
5. Dec. 15, 1997, Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot. Stamps, Ark.
6. 24-Mar-98, Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods. Jonesboro, Ark.
7. 24-Apr-98, One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged. Edinboro, Pa.
8. 19-May-98, One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis. Fayetteville, Tenn.
9. 21-May-98, Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home. Springfield, Ore.
10. 15-Jun-98, One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway. Richmond, Va.
11. 20-Apr-99, 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation’s deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves. Littleton, Colo.
12. 28-Apr-99, One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates. Taber, Alberta, Canada
13. 20-May-99, Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend. Conyers, Ga.
14. Nov. 19, 1999, Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School. Deming, N.M.
15. Dec. 6, 1999, Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School. Fort Gibson, Okla.
16. Feb. 29, 2000, Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun. Mount Morris Township, Mich.
17. 10-Mar-00, Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School. Savannah, Ga.
18. 26-May-00, One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes. Lake Worth, Fla.
19. Sept. 26, 2000, Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School. New Orleans, La.
20. Jan. 17, 2001, One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School. Baltimore, Md.
21. 5-Mar-01, Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School. Santee, Calif.
22. 7-Mar-01, Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased. Williamsport, Pa.
23. 22-Mar-01, One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman. Granite Hills, Calif.
24. 30-Mar-01, One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School. Gary, Ind.
25. Nov. 12, 2001, Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself. Caro, Mich.
26. Jan. 15, 2002, A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. New York, N.Y.
27. 28-Oct-02, Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself. Tucson, Ariz.
28. 14-Apr-03, One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related. New Orleans, La.
29. 24-Apr-03, James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself. Red Lion, Pa.
30. Sept. 24, 2003, Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15. Cold Spring, Minn.
31. 21-Mar-05, Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead. Red Lake, Minn.
32. Nov. 8, 2005, One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators. Jacksboro, Tenn.
33. Aug. 24, 2006 , Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had killed the ex-girlfriend’s mother. Essex,Vt.
34. Sept. 13, 2006, Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself. Montreal, Canada
35. Sept. 26, 2006, Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself. Bailey, Colo.
36. Sept. 29, 2006, A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal John Klang. Cazenovia, Wis.
37. Oct. 3, 2006, 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died. Nickel Mines, Pa.
38. Jan. 3, 2007, Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School. Tacoma, Wash.
39. 16-Apr-07, A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded. Blacksburg, Va.
40. Sept. 21, 2007, A Delaware State Univesity Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge. Dover,Del.
41. Oct. 10, 2007, A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims’ injuries were not life-threatening. Cleveland, Ohio
42. Feb. 8, 2008, A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
43. Feb. 11, 2008, A 17-year-old student at Mitchell High School shot and wounded a classmate in gym class. Memphis, Tennessee
44. Feb. 12, 2008, A 14-year-old boy shot a student at E.O. Green Junior High School causing the 15-year-old victim to be brain dead. Oxnard, California
45. Feb. 14, 2008, Gunman kills five students and then himself, and wounds 17 more when he opens fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007. DeKalb, Illinois