Did anyone else have intruder drills in school?

[Hunter's Moon]

The "what to do in an earthquake" thread got me thinking about safety procedures we practiced at school. A new procedure we did in my last year of public school (10th) was an intruder drill.

 

The principal or other personnel would come over the speaker, say "intruder, intruder" and the teacher would have to tape papers to the door where the window was, close the blinds, and we all had to huddle in a corner crammed in together away from view of the door and if we were in front of a window, crouching. We did it during all different periods so we would know what to do in each classroom setup.

 

Just curious :001_smile:

[DawnM]

No, but we had a sniper and had to get all the students to hide under the window level for 2 hours. The gun shot holes are still on the building today, but noone was killed in that shooting.

 

And then there was the time we had a gun totin' man roaming the halls. He had shot a man in the parking lot. We had to keep all the students in 2nd period until 4pm. That was FUN :glare:

 

We did have a lot of lock downs.

 

There are a lot of other stories, but those two did stand out in my memory.

 

I worked for 16 years in inner city schools! :D

[WhollyHis]

We practiced this when I was a public school teacher, but there was a secret code said over the loud speaker. Something like "the principal has lost her keys..." I can't imagine the students having to hear "intruder, intruder."

[meggie]

No and I was a freshman in Littleton when Columbine happened. Before Columbine, it was an open campus. After Columbine, everyone could only enter in the front doors and you had to show your ID card.

[Hunter's Moon]

We practiced this when I was a public school teacher, but there was a secret code said over the loud speaker. Something like "the principal has lost her keys..." I can't imagine the students having to hear "intruder, intruder."

 

Well we knew they were drills. They would always say on morning announcements that a drill would be coming later in the day and then a few minutes before they'd mention it again.

 

As for if there actually was an intruder and it was said over the intercom, I don't think that would be really smart. The intruder might feel pressured and shoot or something.

[Daisy]

My husband is a first grade teacher and they have lock-down drills. Over the all-call system they state, "Lock-Down! All doors locked now." They don't provide any further information. The vast majority of the time lock-down occurs because of a local police chase or stand-off in the neighborhood, but the same system would be used for an intruder.

 

They used to have a secret code for lock-down but have since just gone to a simple command.

[Hunter's Moon]

No, but we had a sniper and had to get all the students to hide under the window level for 2 hours. The gun shot holes are still on the building today, but noone was killed in that shooting.

 

And then there was the time we had a gun totin' man roaming the halls. He had shot a man in the parking lot. We had to keep all the students in 2nd period until 4pm. That was FUN :glare:

 

We did have a lot of lock downs.

 

There are a lot of other stories, but those two did stand out in my memory.

 

I worked for 16 years in inner city schools! :D

 

We've had a few gun totin' teens (drug-related) but only once was it taken out during school with intended use on someone. The others were caught when it was found. I can't imagine having a sniper there!

[Maus]

I'm too old. We still had a working air-raid siren on the playground, though they had just recently given up holding drills for that by the time I attended. Just fire drills, and we discussed earthquake safety, but never drilled for one.

[BarbecueMom]

Yep! I remember one during AP U.S. Government. Lock the door, turn out the lights, everyone to the back of the classroom away from the door and windows. Our school was a main hallway with three long halls of cells, er, classrooms off the main hall. If we were on lockdown, you couldn't go outside in between the halls during class. Yes, 2500 students changing classes in ONE main hallway. Five minutes, or you're tardy.

 

Our school had phones in every room, and I think an automated call from the main office triggered the alert. Not real helpful if there really was an active shooter who stopped by the office first. :glare:

 

We had lots of bomb threats too! They always seemed to coincide with nice weather. Hmm...

[CourtneyMI]

The only time we had any sort of lock down when I was in school happened my senior year when 2 girls were stabbed on campus by another student's mother. (true story - they were arguing over a pair of shoes and someone almost lost an eye due to a claw hammer earlier in the week). Anywa, it was during midterms and we were locked in our classrooms for a few hours. Awesome right? :glare:

 

Ater I graduated, they had to institute different codes for things because the violence got way out of hand. Can you see why my kids will NOT be attending this school system? Graduation this year ended in a shooting in the parking lot. :001_huh:

[kathkath]

I was a ps teacher when columbine happened and after that our district put giant numbers on all of the exterior doors. We started drills then--lock door, close blinds, lights off, squeeze 20+ kids in and right outside the 1 seater bathroom in silence. It was always hard to explain to 1st graders without scaring them.

[edithcrawley]

We had intruder drills. An announcement would be made over the loudspeaker requesting a "Mr. Blue" to come to the main office. At that point, the teacher covered the window in the door with paper and we all sat under our desks. We also had a few bomb threats, one when we were about to board the buses to go home, so they sent us back to the gym to wait for about 45 minutes while they sorted it out (nothing was found). Sometimes during the Mr. Blue drills, they would have the drug sniffing dogs go by all the lockers (they wanted to make sure that no students were out in the halls during this). We were a suburban school that rarely had any issues--we had cops stationed in the school, but they really didn't do anything other than sit in a little office in one wing of the school.

[Rhonda in TX]

I never did, but I graduated in 1985 and those kinds of things weren't really worried about.

 

A friend is a principal and did have those kinds of drills. They came in very handy the day they DID have an intruder. The whole episode sounded very scary, but the kids and teachers did exactly what they should and everyone was safe.

[akmommy]

Nope, no intruder drills.

 

We had fire drills, earthquake drills, and bus drills.

 

I have 2 in PS now and they no longer do earthquake drills, but still no intruder drills.

 

Eta: I know that teachers and other staff are trained for those types of emergencies, but no drills with the kids. The first year we home schooled a nut with a knife ran onto an elementary school playground in Anchorage and managed to stab 4 children before being tackled by a playground aide.

Edited August 24, 2011 by akmommy

[MrsBasil]

Yes, but only after Columbine. Before that we had tornado drills and fire/bomb drills.

 

We practiced staying away from windows/door, teachers had to tape paper over the window, and everyone had to be in a classroom very quickly. After the door was closed and locked, no one was allowed to open the door for anything. They would send faculty banging on the doors or yelling for help to make sure we stayed locked down.

[Vanna]

The only time we had any sort of lock down when I was in school happened my senior year when 2 girls were stabbed on campus by another student's mother. (true story - they were arguing over a pair of shoes and someone almost lost an eye due to a claw hammer earlier in the week). Anywa, it was during midterms and we were locked in our classrooms for a few hours. Awesome right? :glare:

 

Ater I graduated, they had to institute different codes for things because the violence got way out of hand. Can you see why my kids will NOT be attending this school system? Graduation this year ended in a shooting in the parking lot. :001_huh:

Wow, wow, wow! And I thought the NYC ps my siblings and I attended were rough!!!

 

Nothing but fire drills where I went to school.

[fhjmom]

We didn't have them when I was a student, but when I was a PS teacher, we were trained as teachers for intruder/lock-down situations. I don't remember ever doing drills with the students though. There was supposed to be an announcement over the loud speakers that said "Attention teachers: Your supplemental pay checks are ready in the office." The idea being that students wouldn't really pay attention but of course teachers would *never* actually have supplemental pay checks. :tongue_smilie:(The fact they picked that as the announcement for a situation when would potentially be in a life threatening situation doing a job that we weren't paid enough for in the first place - IMHO - always kind of rubbed me the wrong way.)

 

When I was subbing at a local private school, they did have lock-down drills with the students.

[Belacqua]

We never had anything like that. We did have the nuclear attack drills, though. Under your desks, everybody! The Russians are bombing and that half-inch of plywood is what stands between you and hideous death.

 

What we should have had is more fire drills, considering our chemistry teacher routinely set the lab aflame. I saw him every day for four years (he was my homeroom teacher) and don't recall ever seeing him with intact eyebrows.

[Hillary in KS]

No. We had air raid drills. :glare:

 

My mom taught at a school in a rough neighborhood back in the 1980's. If there was a shooting at a house near the school, they locked it down until police gave the all-clear. They never had any drills, though. If an area shooting happened the principal just announced it on the loudspeaker, and everyone would settle on the floor with a book, away from windows.

[chepyl]

Not when I was in school, but when I was choreographing for a high school show choir I was stuck in a lock down drill (intruder drill). I was stuck in the color guard closet with 20 teenagers for 20 minutes....ugh!

[WiseOwlKnits]

Yes, we did. We also had those drills in both of the schools I've taught in.

[Karen in CO]

No, we had nuclear bomb drills and tornado drills which were both very similar - duck and cover. The nuclear bomb drills came with a talk about using duck tape and plastic sheeting to cover air vents then the dangers of radioactive fallout.

[Truscifi]

No drills, but when I was in 11th grade a guy sat in the parking lot shooting at the building for almost hour. I was in AP US History at the time, on the first floor of course, and our teacher made us all sit on the floor away from the windows. Then she continued with the lecture. :001_huh: It was very surreal, discussing Sinclair's The Jungle punctuated by gunshots. Eventually the police dealt with him without anyone, including him, being hurt.

[Retired]

graduated 1988 just had bomb/fire drill (everyone leave the building) and tornado ( get in the hall head down with hands over head)

 

I need to add that all the boys had rifles in their trucks and carried pocket knives. I don't think we were really worried about intruders. We never had a stabbing or shooting the boys used their fist. I wonder what wrong with todays kids.

[Mabelen]

I grew up in Spain and we had no drills of any kind. I have had to evacuate college and other buildings however due to bomb threats and an actual small bomb in the vicinity; things always went pretty smoothly despite the lack of practice.

 

At the private school where I used to teach we had fire, tornado and other emergency scenarios including lock down drills with students after the DC sniper incident. Where we are now they have fire, earthquake and lock down drills.

[Karen in CO]

I grew up in Spain and we had no drills of any kind. I have had to evacuate college and other buildings however due to bomb threats and an actual small bomb in the vicinity; things always went pretty smoothly despite the lack of practice.

 

At the private school where I used to teach we had fire, tornado and other emergency scenarios including lock down drills with students after the DC sniper incident. Where we are now they have fire, earthquake and lock down drills.

 

I wonder if the drills help or if they just instill a sense of fear.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Karen in CO

[Running the race]

Probably dating myself, but we had nuclear disaster drills, tornado drills, and fire drills. The fire drills and tornado drills made sense. It was fun to go in the boy's bathroom for the tornado drill! But somehow I wasn't reassured by the idea of going under my desk with my hands over my head for the nuclear disaster drill. Ummm...really?!

[Mabelen]

I wonder if the drills help or if they just instill a sense of fear.

 

Usually the teachers do a very good job of explaining and reassuring kids. Of course there may be some extra sensitive/fearful children for whom drills may be somewhat stressful, but a real event would be more stressful in my opinion without having gone through the drill previously.

[Veritaserum]

I voted yes, but I think my school added them after we had armed intruders who ran onto our campus while fleeing police after robbing a convenience store. I attended a magnet school in a bad part of San Diego.

[Heather in Neverland]

I did not when I was in school but we do now. We call them "lock-down" drills and we use a special siren to announce it.

[Melissa in Australia]

no, the local schools have fire drills, and lockdown drills for bushfire.

[Punchie]

At my military school in the mid-late '90's, in addition to fire drills, we had both intruder drills and "truck carrying toxic waste crashes right outside of the school" drills.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I voted no, but I'm too old for those. My best friend is a public high school teacher and they have them regularly. When my kids were in preschool, they had one of those drills a year.

[bettyandbob]

I'm too old. But my dc, now in public school, do. In dd was telling a story about one in middle school this year. The kids are supposed to get under desks which lined up next to one another. A rather large boy took up the space under his and dd's desk (guess he was faster getting down there). So, dd was just in "open space". She said she announced the class and teacher she felt "exposed" and crawled to a computer work station and got under that.

[Beth in OH]

As a sad commentary on our broken world, "lockdown drills" have become standard operating procedure. We do them in our community center programs along with fire and tornado drills.

[Lady Florida.]

We had "Communist" drills when I was in Catholic school in the early 1960's. Looking back, it was pretty weird. We were taught that at any time Castro-like commandos might come charging into the classroom asking us to defend our faith.You were supposed to stand up and get gunned down so you could go to heaven. It was pretty scary to a first grader. :( And no, we didn't live in Florida at the time. This was in New Jersey - a pretty long way from Castro's new Cuba. I wonder if the nuns actually believed it, or if they were just following directions from administrators.

 

Dh's family lived in Key West at that same time, attended public school, and said they never had any kind of "Castro's coming to get you" drills. Even though it was only 90 miles away.

Edited August 24, 2011 by floridamom

[Parrothead]

Depending on where we lived I went through various drills.

 

I don't remember any in K'er - We lived in Italy at the time and it was about '72

In NJ all I remember were fire drills. This would have been early mid-70s.

Then NY and we did both fire drills and air raid/nuclear bomb drills. Mid-70s

Then SC for the rest of school. We had fire drills and bomb scares.

 

I do remember a tornado drill once. I don't remember where I lived at the time. Either NY or SC.

[sbgrace]

As a student myself we only had fire, tornado, and at one point earthquake drills.

 

As a teacher my school system instituted procedures after Columbine. They weren't student practiced though. We had a generic code that I can't remember now (the principal has left the building maybe) and what to do in that case.

[DusksAngel]

When I taught in ps wel had intruder drills. They also used them to bring in the drug dogs.

 

In my first class room I was in a trailor, so imagine the door on one side and a row of windows down the entire length of the other.... where exactly were the kids supposed to go?!?

[swimmermom3]

I put "other" because I am too old and have escaped the intruder drills, but my teens have done them at their ps and have had intruders on campus as well.

[Jennifer3141]

Asa kid, we only had fire drills and tornado drills.

 

I have heard that our local schools do have intruder drills now. They had a shooting incident early last year, no one was injured.

[LuvingLife]

I wasn't in school long enough to ever have one. Our area was safe enough where the schools never really saw a need to. Although my mother did, she had just gone outside with a bunch of friends when she saw a senior take out a gun and shoot another senior. The shooter was unpopular, and the victum was the star football player, so we all know what happens a lot. But the shooter shot the football player in the left side of his head, and he lost all movement on that side. My mom was shoved back inside by the teachers and the last she saw was the shooter jumping out a window and he was found hanging from his bedroom. It was really terrible. Now the high school has lockdowns all the time for attempted murder or whatever. And people wonder why I don't want to go to ps!!:tongue_smilie:

[MamaJo]

No but school shootings were unheard of when I went to school. I remember the first time I heard of one I was absolutely stunned. It still is awful of course, but that first time really turned me on my head.

[twoxcell]

I only went to PS for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. We had Fire Drills and Earthquake drills. The earthquake ones were kinda funny because we live in Oregon and have never had an earthquake here that anyone remembers, but they have been preapring for the big one as long as I can remember.;) I helped out a first grade teacher when I was 16 and they had lockdown drills then, but that was after Columbine.

[KatieJ]

I voted other. We had drills, I think they were bomb drills, back in the sixties. ( I graduated "73)

We would all go down in the basement lunch room, line up against the wall..sit down and put our head between our knees.

 

My husband has a different name for the same drill, but I am too polite to type it out.

 

:001_smile:

[Lady Florida.]

I voted other. We had drills, I think they were bomb drills, back in the sixties. ( I graduated "73)

We would all go down in the basement lunch room, line up against the wall..sit down and put our head between our knees.

 

My husband has a different name for the same drill, but I am too polite to type it out.

 

:001_smile:

 

I graduated in '73 too, and now that you mention it, we had bomb drills too, in addition to the one I already mentioned. For the bomb drills we did the "duck and cover" that you see in old clips. We hid under our desks. Yeah, that would have worked. :glare:

 

I'd love to know your dh's term, and I'm not easily offended. PM me if you'd rather not post it. :001_smile:

[Jennifer]

We never had anything like that. We did have the nuclear attack drills, though. Under your desks, everybody! The Russians are bombing and that half-inch of plywood is what stands between you and hideous death.

So true. I remember as early as 1st or 2nd grade trying to figure out how being under my desk was going to help. In junior high and high school we went to the bomb shelter in the basement and closed that big heavy door. Then there was time for making out with boys while we waited for annihilation.

Good times.

Jennifer

[Mabelen]

We had "Communist" drills when I was in Catholic school in the early 1960's. Looking back, it was pretty weird. We were taught that at any time Castro-like commandos might come charging into the classroom asking us to defend our faith.You were supposed to stand up and get gunned down so you could go to heaven. It was pretty scary to a first grader. :( And no, we didn't live in Florida at the time. This was in New Jersey - a pretty long way from Castro's new Cuba. I wonder if the nuns actually believed it, or if they were just following directions from administrators.

 

Dh's family lived in Key West at that same time, attended public school, and said they never had any kind of "Castro's coming to get you" drills. Even though it was only 90 miles away.

 

Wow! And I thought that the nuns at my school were extreme! We only had a lot of gory and detailed stories from a very early age about Spanish civil war religious martyrs... We were supposed to have acted the same as you guys in a hypothetical case but at least we were not worried about our immediate safety since the Republican side had lost the war to fascist dictator Franco who was in power!

[4wildberrys]

The "what to do in an earthquake" thread got me thinking about safety procedures we practiced at school. A new procedure we did in my last year of public school (10th) was an intruder drill.

 

The principal or other personnel would come over the speaker, say "intruder, intruder" and the teacher would have to tape papers to the door where the window was, close the blinds, and we all had to huddle in a corner crammed in together away from view of the door and if we were in front of a window, crouching. We did it during all different periods so we would know what to do in each classroom setup.

 

Just curious :001_smile:

 

Nope---the worries/drills when I was in school were earthquakes and bus safety drills. Students or other whacked out adults showing up at schools with bombs and sub-machine guns was not a worry back then :001_huh: My father worked at the Naval Postgraduate School in California and there were times we showed up at his office when the whole place was in Top Secret lockdown mode---with MPs stationed at all the entrances---but that was Cold War Era stuff. Tame compared to what kids have to deal with now :glare:

[Sahamamama]

My husband is a first grade teacher and they have lock-down drills. Over the all-call system they state, "Lock-Down! All doors locked now." They don't provide any further information. The vast majority of the time lock-down occurs because of a local police chase or stand-off in the neighborhood, but the same system would be used for an intruder.

 

They used to have a secret code for lock-down but have since just gone to a simple command.

 

:001_huh: My daughter is a first grader and I'm trying to imagine what it must be like for those children to practice "lock down." :glare: