Teachers unwittingly put through lockdown drill that includes actor with blanks-filled gun.

[G_j]

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/phillipsburg/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1220069114311200.xml&coll=3&thispage=1


Fake shooting, real terror

Teachers unwittingly put through lockdown drill that includes actor with blanks-filled gun.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
By SARAH WOJCIK
The Express-Times

PHILLIPSBURG | Teachers dove for cover under tables and some feared for their lives Thursday during an unannounced drill that featured a gunman firing blanks in the Phillipsburg School District.

Organizers hailed the drill as a success, but some staff members remained shaken Friday.


"The only reason it was not the scariest day of my life was because it wasn't real," said a teacher, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.

The so-called hostile intruder drill was conducted at the Phillipsburg Early Learning Center, where elementary teachers had gathered for a workshop before next week's opening of school.

The drill was coordinated between Phillipsburg police and school administrators to create a realistic scenario. It included an actor dressed as a gunman firing blanks, said acting Superintendent George Chando.

"It was done as means of assessing the security readiness," he said.

..more..

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Oh. My. Word. I would be livid.

[noamnety]

7. That wouldn't even begin to describe it.

I don't know wtf is wrong with them. It's not too often I have reprisal fantasies, but this triggered that reaction.

[jobycom]

2. Too bad some of the teachers weren't armed.

They could have shot the actor and ended the crisis.

[Mind_your_head]

9. the actor would think twice about EVER pulling a stunt like that again!

Well, mebbe not....

:applause:

[G_j]

12. shoot the actor and end the crisis

or as someone else pointed out, even a pencil can be a weapon.
They are lucky nobody was seriously hurt.

[RazBerryBeret]

3. ok, I think that crosses the line...

I was concerned when my kindergartener had a lock down drill and they turned off the lights and everyone hid under their desks as the principle went around and tried to get in the classroom doors (making sure the teacher locked them)...his school does this once a month, sad that they have to prepare them...but I think the added blank gun is just a little too real.

[LWolf]

20. That, and the simple fact that everyone knows when it's a "drill." nt

[fascisthunter]

4. The Right Wing Wants Authoritarian Thugs Teaching Class with a Gun

way to implement gang mentality into our education system. "I need a gun to deal with you all... just in case."

Those with guns have a authority... we paid tax for that already with having a police force. Now teachers police their own classrooms and the children inside them... great message to teach.... :sarcasm:

[aikoaiko]

13. If you're talking about letting teachers carry a concealed weapons just like other people...

... then I'm (college professor) for it too.

Most of the time this is done in the context of concealed carry where the students, for the most part, woildn't even know. I'm not sure where you get this idea that teachers want to be gun weildimg authoritarians who initimidate their students.

[fascisthunter]

15. wow... just crazy

[LisaL]

5. What's the protocol?

From reading the article, it seems like it was not to do anything and hide under the table.
You need a drill for that?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. It amazes me how badly we prepare for this

When I was in HS, I went to a private Jewish HS in Mexico

Threats to the schools were real.

So the older kids, yes, we, checked the school every morning for bombs, we had drills at least twice a year... and everybody was aware about security

This is not about security, but scaring people shitless

[tannybogus]

8. When I was teaching and if they pulled that shit on me,

I would have probably given the "school administrators" a real scenario.
They better not pull it in a high school because unless there are metal
detectors, somebody may just have a gun. This is why I said when those Texas
teachers were going to have guns, that administrators would be the first people
they might shoot.

[Bigmack]

10. Lawyer???

I'd bitch to the cops and get a lawyer.

People feared for their lives because of this stunt.

I taught High School for 30 years, and if any administrator had pulled this kind of shit, we'd have taken his head off. They did this with elementary teachers, I note.

Reprisal, indeed. Reprisal is a two-way street... teachers can make life a living hell for administrators who pull this kind of shit. No respect, no backing, no cooperation, no rhythm... nothing.

Fucking morons!

[Fumesucker]

11. I'm not sure if this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard..

But it's damn sure close..

If that had happened around me that guy might just have had something sharp stuck through his neck.

In trained hands a pencil is a deadly weapon.

Remember what happened to the gunman at the UU church, I wouldn't have been nearly as gentle.

[many a good man]

14. This may be worse than telling kids their parents were blown up at the metro station

"and will be med-evac'ed to school property" and then helicopters start landing outside a minute later?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/TorchesAndPitchforks/9

[dgibby]

16. PTSD

I don't know about anybody else, but if I'd been subjected to this "drill", I'd have the worst case of PTSD you ever saw, I'd never be able to teach again, and my lawyer and I would be living in the lap of luxury, compliments of Phillipsburg!

[EFerrari]

17. I'd sue these mfers so fast, their heads would spin off their shoulders.

That's just wrong.

[lonestarnot]

18. WTF?

:wtf:

[LWolf]

19. I really want to hear what the union president has to say about this.

If my district ever tries something similar, I guarantee massive lawsuits.

[High Plains]

21. Who are these bullet-headed assholes?

[hootinholler]

22. Didn't this happen before at another district?

I seem to recall something similar last year.

:shrug:

-Hoot

[FedUpWithIt All]

23. Good thing the actor didn't take a sharp or blunt object to the head.

Geeez. :eyes:

Idiots.

Edited to add...
What happens then if it is a REAL emergency. The teachers just roll their eyes and curse the admin under their breath while a dangerous individual gains better leverage in the school.

This "drill" was a REALLY STUPID idea.

[AwakeAtLast]

24. Would they do this at a post office? In an office building?

Of course not! I would have a reason to claim mental disability if they did that to me. Ugh. :grr:

[Quantess]

25. Elementary kids are the perfect audience.

They will never forget it, and even if someone reassures them later that it was "all pretend", their subconscious minds will never forget the terror.

[mackdaddy]

26. "Blanks" are still explosive charges, and can and have killed

JON-ERIK HEXUM'S FATAL JOKE:
A (couple) DECADEs AGO, KIDDING ON THE SET, THE ACTOR SHOT A BLANK FROM A GUN AND KILLED HIMSELF
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,304026,00.html

A gun shooting blanks still directs an explosive charge and burning gunpowder toward where or who it is aimed at.
These idiots were risking doing eye or hearing damage to everyone in the immediate area. That is why you wear eye and ear protection when using firearms. Firing in an enclosed area even makes the sound levels more intense.

This was a very dangerous "drill".

Also, since most of the teachers involved were not aware of the drill in advance, it is fortunate that the actor was not injured.
After the VT shootings, a major discussion was whether to cower and wait to be shot, or to try to rush and overwhelm the shooter. At close hand to hand range, a gun looses much of its advantage over an edged or stabbing weapon. A Bic Biro shoved into someones eye or throat can keep a person with a gun a little busy to keep shooting. A lot of ex military, police, or martial arts trained people are out there with this training. Again, This was a very dangerous "drill".

[knitter4democracy]

27. Sure. Make every teacher's nightmare come true and then lie.

Boy oh boy, that union had better get crackin' on this one. I'd be furious!

[BlooInBloo]

28. In Texas, the teacher would've taken out their own gun and shot the mofo.

:rofl: