Ultimately, it’s up to parents to do everything they can to ensure their kids’ safety and security. We expect school officials to keep our children safe while they’re at school. Unfortunately, some school officials don’t. Some are too lazy to ensure exterior doors are secure. Others suffer from a mental denial response that anything bad would ever happen at their school. Denial, of course, has no survival value.
Even if they mean well, not all school administrators have the expertise in safety and security to successfully implement best practices to keep kids safe from lunatics and criminals who might want to do the unthinkable. That’s where we as parents must step up and hold school officials accountable for the safety and security of our kids. A failure to do so can result in unimaginable horror.
Take Uvalde, Texas, for instance. The officials there had a “no guns” policy prohibiting staff from having guns even though Texas law allows it. They also had a school police force, but those officers prioritized their own safety over the lives of children they were paid to protect.
Local law enforcement failed to follow widely accepted protocols for dealing with an active shooter. As a result, children who didn’t have to die bled out while police waited 75 minutes to take out the killer.
The Washington Times reported on the cascading failures. We covered it here as well . . .
Police officials who responded to the deadly Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting waited far too long to confront the gunman, acted with “no urgency” in establishing a command post and communicated inaccurate information to grieving families, according to a Justice Department report released Thursday that identifies “cascading failures” in law enforcement’s handling of the massacre.
The Justice Department report, the most comprehensive federal accounting of the maligned police response to the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School, catalogs a sweeping array of training, communication, leadership and technology problems that federal officials say contributed to the crisis lasting far longer than necessary. All the while, the report says, terrified students inside the classrooms called 911 and agonized parents begged officers to go in.
“Had law enforcement agencies followed generally accepted practices in active shooter situations and gone right after the shooter and stopped him, lives would have been saved and people would have survived,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday at a news conference in Uvalde after Justice Department officials briefed family members on their findings. The Uvalde victims, he said, “deserved better.”
They deserved better, absolutely. Why didn’t they demand better before it happened? Was it a case of assuming someone else handled security concerns?
Why haven’t they demanded better since then? Why does the Uvalde district still have a “no guns for staff” policy (see page 63)? Incredibly they still have this policy even after the utter failure of their “no guns” policy that fateful day! Why it’s almost like they haven’t learned.
Making sure your kid’s school isn’t the next Uvalde
What can you do to make sure your kids’ or grandkids’ school takes security seriously and aggressively mitigates risks? First and foremost, don’t assume.
Instead, act. Be proactive. Don’t wait for someone else to do it!
Visit the school yourself. Take a day off from your 9 to 5 job if you have to. Stop by at different times during the school day and do your own evaluation of safety and security protocols. If you as a layperson see obvious security failures like unlocked exterior doors during school hours, bring that information to school administrators. This would include service entrances.
If the school principal doesn’t want to address your concerns appropriately and promptly, make an appointment to speak with the superintendent. These folks tend to be risk adverse, so framing the security problems as closing off those potential dangers might prod them to take action if an appeal to common sense does not.
If the principal and superintendent are both dedicated practitioners of the denial response “it won’t happen here,” take it to the school board. School shootings and mass casualty incidents are on everyone’s mind. No school board will want to face angry parents and voters after ignoring notice of deficiencies and pleas to implement security best practices ahead of an Uvalde-type incident.
Even if doors remain locked, there may be other issues that you didn’t notice. Again, educator training primarily revolves around educating, not security. They may not know any better. That’s where security-conscious parents can help make them aware of best practices and to implement them.
Sure, you will face institutional inertia against better security. We can agree that few will relish locked doors if open doors are still a thing at your kid’s school. Unlocking the door every time is a pain, but locked doors have been proven time and time again to save lives by delaying or denying bad guys’ (or gals’) entrance into schools.
Dig Deeper.
Does your kid’s school even have formal security protocols or are they operating by the seat of the pants? Find out. How? Open a dialogue with them about it.
Admittedly, it’s not a dialogue they get a lot. It’ll probably make them uncomfortable knowing someone is asking about it, especially if they don’t have one. However, your school’s safety trumps their discomfort.
When I did exactly this last school year, I invited the principal to bring in a school resource officer. I laid out my credentials in an email and explained what I would like to know and gave them some specific questions.
The principal, to put it charitably, was uncomfortable with both me and my query. Like a wise man, he punted to the district’s Director of Safety and Security. From there, I met Rich Hirsch, that Director of Safety and Security. He and I quickly became good friends, and we see the world very similarly.
I’ll admit I lucked out and then some. Not only did our district have such a position, but the guy holding it is a go-getter who lives and breathes this stuff. He loved that a parent was asking these questions and holding them accountable.
When he worked as a school resource officer years ago, he received a radio call for shots fired at his kid’s high school. Unknown injuries. That radio call proved transformative for him. He told me he went from a conscientious SRO to voracious in his thirst to learn more and train school staff and even the bus drivers in safety and security strategies. “If you see something, say something,” was one of his key imperatives for staffers.
Not everyone will have such a person within their schools, or such an exemplary person filling it. That doesn’t mean you can’t help educate and motivate those in charge of these issues in your schools to learn more and do better.
The NRA’s School Shield program provides a great apolitical springboard for those discussions. Share their suggested questions in your initial email to administrators as I did so they get an idea of what you’re looking for.
Obviously some school administrators will be uncomfortable with this unusual attempt to evaluate their security program. That’s okay. They don’t have to be comfortable. Ensuring the safety of the kids in the school is more important than their comfort.
Just communicate with them that the harder we make the potential target, the fewer people will die should some lunatic try to massacre helpless little boys and girls in your hometown.
Here are some questions the School Shield program has put together for parents to ask teachers and administrators to make sure they don’t have their heads in the sand when it comes to students’ safety . . .
1. Has our school ever had a vulnerability assessment done?
2. Does our school work with local law enforcement and emergency responders in crisis planning and training?
3. When was our emergency operations/crisis management plan last reviewed?
4. What types of drills are conducted at our school and at what frequency?
5. Are all exterior doors of our school locked during instructional hours?
6. Are all visitors to our school required to check in with the main office?
7. Are students and staff trained on how to identify and report suspicious or concerning behaviors/comments?
8. Does our school have a behavioral threat assessment team?
9. If there is an emergency, how and when are parents/guardians notified?
10. Do we have designated security personnel assigned to our school? If so, are they armed/unarmed?
Here’s a guide you can download and print out with all of these questions. You can email this to your school admins.
The School Shield website also has a series of videos talking about the security analysis their experts provide from the perspective of teachers, parents, paramedics, etc., as well as ways to implement increased security without frightening parents. Watch those. You can learn from them as well.
Don’t assume your kid’s school is as safe as it could (or should) be.
You may have to take the role as the catalyst for change to mitigate risks and maximize safety. However, the benefits of taking action proactively is priceless.
The life you save might be your son or daughter’s.
The day my Moma socked it to the Harpers Valley PTA.
Educating sheeple on addressing high risk/low frequency threat events???
🤣🤣🤣
You’ll have more success teaching pigs to sing.
“You’ll have more success teaching pigs to sing.”
At least you would have tried… 🙁
I retired from a school district as did my wife. You will never get teachers and admins to co-operate in school security. Every one. And i mean every one believes that they are the exception that does not have to obey rules.
The only way to change that is an immediate firing for those that break the rules. That will never happen.
Schools will remain a nut case magnet. Armed volunteers from the community is the only rational answer.
“Armed volunteers from the community …”
… will never be allowed on campus if the school admins will not cooperate in security.
Basic human nature causes people to gradually ignore processes and procedures, becoming blissfully ignorant of unexpected events, until the moment the unexpected event happens.
I’ve handled root cause/corrective for decades, seen it regularly.
Therefore, there will always be school shootings that the Donks can use as justification to infringe on citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights.
Good for them. Bad for us. Fortunately I don’t have children, so what will be, will be.
I really hope that the cowards in Texas use the Rock vs. Gonzalez case in their defense. That’s the case where the supreme court said, the police have no obligation to protect you.
I really hope and pray that the police (cowards) are completely successful. in using that case to defend themselves against any criminal or civilibility.
And when they are successful and they are totally absolved, of any civil or criminal liability. Only then will the entire American population finally, understand.
What we in the “gun community” have been saying forever.
That you are on your own. You have always been on your own. The police are never coming to save you. And in fact, the police really don’t want to save you.
I believe that sheriff’s deputy, that coward in Florida. Was found not guilty at the school massacre. For failing to engage the shooter.
The year 2020 was a very good year for the general loss of faith in american law enforcement.
And when an entire police department in Texas. Is absolved of any civil or criminal liability, in the murder of american school children, and their failure to defend them.
Then in the words of Darth Vader of Star Wars.
“Their failure will be complete.”
And then we can finally start having a national conversation about arming teachers who volunteer. And allowing parents to carry onto schoolgrounds.
To chris:
No they don’t come to save you , they come to arrest you after you’ve shot the perpetrator.
“Ultimately, it’s up to parents to do everything they can to ensure their kids’ safety and security.”
“Be proactive. Don’t wait for someone else to do it!”
While I certainly agree with these statements from Boch’s article above, it’s important to note that multiple parents were forcefully prohibited by LE officers that day from taking action to save their children. It was heartbreaking that the officers stood by and allowed children to die while their parents tried to step in and do what those officers would not.
“…multiple parents were forcefully prohibited by LE officers that day from taking action to save their children.”
How any of those parents had a discussion with school admins about security before the tragedy, as the author writes in the above article? Perhaps if they had, there wouldn’t have been a tragedy where they would have had to stand by as their children died.
Not so sure about that. I myself have had specific conversations with institution leaders regarding emergency preparedness, and not a single one ended up following through with any action afterward.
Normalcy bias.
Ah, yes. Moderated again, though I can’t for the life of me understand what portions of my simple comment would have triggered it.
WordPress/TTAG
FYI
Other then the usual suspects, it also moderates:
d-r-i-n-k-i-n-g
m-a-s-s-a-g-e
c-a-s-i-n-o
“s-o-m-e-o-n-e else”
“yet a-n-o-t-h-e-r”
l-i-t-t-l-e
vax
I try to clear out the cache of “suspicious” comments at least a couple of times a day. When there’s dozens there, it’s a PITA. Dacian should be eternally grateful. A lot of his crap is always in there.
I for one am very grateful we have this opportunity to express our thoughts and exchange ideas.
I’ve never complained about the moderation, it’s all par for the course with online forums. I’m just glad that folks’ comments are able to make it through the filter so I have an opportunity to learn and be amazed.
For instance, while researching a comment last week I learned that Abner Doubleday, the inventor of baseball (maybe… ), was the artillery captain who returned fire when the confederacy began their war of southern aggression against the United States of America.
“I for one am very grateful we have this opportunity to express our thoughts and exchange ideas.”
Hilarious! THAT’S NOT WHY YOU’RE HERE.
Of course you support moderation miner49er you’re a racist gay intolerant s0ci@ list. Who supports centership.
And since I’ve been on this website since almost the beginning. They never had moderation before and we did quite well without it.
“Of course you support moderation miner49er“
You intentionally mischaracterize my response, I did not say I supported moderation,
Unlike most on this list, I don’t whine like a little girl when my every utterance isn’t immediately splashed across every screen in the country.
Modesty, humility and patience are my watch words.
“If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by”
Oh you musta been thinking about teaching Cops how to throw a grenade fast ball.
Do not block dacian or miner. They’re too damn dumb to realize just how much good they’re doing for the pro gun cause. And miner has just about single handed turned Trump into a martyr.
What a world we live in.
Not only that, Liar re-writes historical narratives to suit his bias.
Didja notice the stealth reference “war of southern aggression?”
That’s how he rolls. No wonder he’s thankful for this forum — we have to put up with it.
“miner has just about single handed turned Trump into a martyr“
It is solely Donald Trump‘s own words and actions that condemn him, and the courts are holding him accountable for his efforts to obstruct justice and intimidate others:
“After a three-judge panel ruled against Donald Trump when he attempted to get the gag order (that had been put in place by Judge Tanya Chutkan) thrown out, Trump asked the full court – all 11 appellate court judges – to hear the case. In a unanimous slap down, all 11 judges refused to even hear the case, including three judges Trump appointed to the federal bench.“
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2no9B8Jm4-U
Donald Trump can’t stop himself from making threats and inflammatory statements, insults are his stock in trade.
“ …that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man“
Matthew 15:11
And then Liar goes and proves my point.
“ …that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man“
Applies to Liar’s postings on this forum. You still thank Providence, as you did yesterday? Strange thing for an atheist to say.
“Modesty, humility and patience are my watch words.”
We’ve been watching for signs of any of those from you. We’re still waiting.
MINORLIAR, FOR YOUR EDIFICATION, Trump’s “threats” did not encompass physical violence. Therefore were not real threats that could be interpreted as such. Only you Leftists are allowed to do such, right? Calling the judge incompetent is not a threat in any way shape or form.
Par for the course, you Lefties want t silence any and all opposition to your dribble.
And whoever said that river thing never lived upstream. You could sit upstream of the massacre forever and you’d never the bodies.
An egg can’t kum, dont argue about chickens the glass is half full if your filling it.
The cops were pussys.Period
I’m s grandpa with a gun . Buy me lunch in the school cafeteria and I will walk the halls protection my grand kiddos.
I’m sure other grandparents would do the same. Problem solved.
much like everyone else involved in this tragic event too many put their trust in others…when it was clearly misplaced…
There are numerous mass murderers alive and well serving life when they should have already faced a firing squad, electric chair, guard looking the other way, etc. The only way to deal with such evil is kill it.
Is the death penalty legal in your state? If not, what have you done to make it so?
NEED MONEY AND LEADERS TO ISSUE PLANS TO INSTALL SECURITY LIKE AT AIR PORTS …
NO ONE UNDER 21 SHOULD BE ABLE TO AY WEAPON LARGER THAN 22 CAL …
NEED SPECIAL PERMIT IF UNDER 21 FOR ANY CALIBER OVER 22 LR …
Unconstitutional. We’ve had this discussion previously. Let it go.
NTexas? So you are among those trying to turn Texas blue?
He is not holding his breath long enough.
…even in blue states that under 21 thing has proved a tough sell…the courts have consistently ruled against it…
“INSTALL SECURITY LIKE AT AIR PORTS [sic] …”
Sure, why not? It’s as effective as securing the windows with tissue paper.
To Save America, Abolish the TSA
“…In retrospect, it’s clear that Osama bin Laden emerged the victor of 9/11. …
“More than twenty years later, it’s clear to everyone who flies that what we have is not safety, but safety theater — the illusion of safety, conducted by uniformed government employees of last resort whose mission as it has evolved is not to provide the phantasm of “security” but to obstruct, hamper, harass, and hinder Americans as they attempt to go about their lives.” — https://the-pipeline.org/the-column-to-save-america-abolish-the-tsa/
This, exactly. ☝️
Sorry, no time for this paranoid nonsense.
Our administrators are busy destroying girls sports and masturbating to the drawings in Gender Queer.
the sexuality of kids has risen to a high priority…not sure why…but academics should still be at the top of the list…with security a close second…
Home school yer kids. That’ll
help!🙄
Clearly, parents need to hold the School Boards accountable for the security of the district’s schools. Every parent should read the Uvalde Report and then go to school board meetings to make sure the board is taking the appropriate action(s) to bolster school building security. School Districts also need to identify troubled youths who could become shooters.
Won’t happen. See my remark at 18:22, above.
Alien, If it doesn’t happen, SHAME on the parents. But not doing something about it, they are abdicating to the Leftists.
blind trust…and hope…that others responsible for your kids actually know what they’re doing seems to be the rule in many places…..
frank, to expect that parents will go to the school and act as security is ludicrous. In most families both parents work. It’s not “blind trust”. It’s common sense. AGAIN, if the parents do nothing they are abdicating to the Leftist hoplophobes.
“MINORLAIR, Let’s not go with your “solution”
Hey, it’s not my solution, you’re the one who posted:
“School Districts also need to identify troubled youths who could become shooters”
So, how do you suggest school districts red flag troubled youth who could become shooters?
Very simply, MINORLIAR. You have heard of see something say something? This is kinda self explanatory. But if you are that much of a simpleton, I can explain it to you? You made a suggestion which is blatantly UNCONSTITUTIONAL! But then again, what do you care about the Constitution?
If you go to the next set of posts you would see my suggestion, but then you pick and choose to try to get someone to contradict themselves. Nice try, Lefty but your “mouth wash” isn’t cutting it. I don’t call you MINORLIAR for something more interesting to do.
“School Districts also need to identify troubled youths who could become shooters“
I’m surprised that you would suggest such a course of action but let’s go with it.
The first step would be to identify which students already have a firearm in the household, maybe take a survey of parents in the school district?
MINORLAIR, Let’s not go with your “solution”. First of all it’s pure unadulterated BS and ignores the REAL PROBLEM for which you Leftists are so famous. You wannabe “saviors” had the states CLOSE mental institutions back in the ’70’s and the ’80’s. And don’t give me that guff that Reagan did it. Second, you refuse to do anything about the mental health problem. I’ve stated on a multitude of times, that part of the solution is to REOPEN or re establish the states’ mental hospitals. Second, the include in NICS people who have been deemed as a severe risk to themselves or others by a court of law.
way too intrusive…you’d get too much pushback on that idea…sending out notices and instructive info might fly though…at least it would help the district cover their behinds to some extent…not being proactive on potentially troubled youth is a direct outgrowth of a policy instituted in the obama years…schools are scared to death of possible legal action….
frank, what? How is identifying dangerous students “too intrusive”? Remember the adage, “See something, say something!”?
Walter — I believe that frank was responding to Liar’s baiting remark:
The first step would be to identify which students already have a firearm in the household
It’s the same old leftist “solution” to create a registry. We know how that ends.
alien, if that is what he meant, then he should have put it that way?
“……..appropriate action(s) to bolster school building security. School Districts also need to identify troubled youths………”
The devil is in the details.
There’s nearly zero consensus on EXACTLY what would work. One inescapable truth is the threat will never be totally eliminated.
Part of the solution must include men with superior firepower in place to engage the threat in short order.
No technology or process/procedures will totally eliminate the threat.
James, the ideas presented of course do not “eliminate” the threats to student security, but they do limit the risks, which is what security is designed to do.
Consensus is not always the best way to tackle a security problem. You are correct, when you say the threat will never be totally eliminated.
Your solution to “include men with superior firepower in place to engage the threat in short order” is a workable idea, but putting together such a team could take time without properly equipping the “team” with appropriate weaponry, AR-15 type rifles with proper optics. The report calls for training, and table top practice of various scenarios to be implemented in case of a “mass shooting” or a “man with a gun” at a school. IMHO, each police vehicle should be so equipped with such AR’s and each officer qualified with the AR’s. As the usual distance for such engagements is about 70 yds, training out to 100 yds is appropriate.
The report also called for a definite command structure and cooperation between local, state and federal agencies in the local.
the recent Frontline report on what happened in Israel on Oct 7 show that even extensive security measures can be overcome…but not without great effort…the simple axiom that if he,she (it?) can’t get in it doesn’t happen would still apply….
frank, I am all in favor of allowing a teacher to voluntarily be armed provided they pass qualifications that show they are competent with a handgun.
That being said, no security measure is “foolproof”. For every security measure, there is a way around it.
just arm the teachers [and staff] that are willing to do so…they’re already in…they don’r need time to think about it…far and away the most cost effective and practical measure….
Frank, see above.
👍
If parents are not going to be allowed to protect their children, and if schools are going to be gun-free zones, and if the only one allowed to have a weapon sits around with his thumb up his ass, then parents should be allowed to sue the hell out of the principal, the superintendent, the school board members, and anyone else who thought arming only the bad guys was a great safety strategy.
When ever there is a school shooting response by police, they should bring along with them members of EveryTown to use as shields. They deserve it, and all the other anti-gun groups as well, because it is they who decided the fate of your children with their lobbying and back room deals to keep teachers/staff disarmed of firearms and defenseless so in that imminent moment of need they would have no chance at all. Anti-gun groups, murderers by proxy every one of them.
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