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Post by asmodeus on Dec 16, 2008 11:35:14 GMT -5
I wonder what Daeschner meant by this...there was supposedly no threat, so how were the children kept "safe"? I guess I'll be charitable and say he was talking about preventing a stampede out of the building.
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Arwen
Master Member
Posts: 933
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Post by Arwen on Dec 16, 2008 11:52:26 GMT -5
I wonder what Daeschner meant by this...there was supposedly no threat, so how were the children kept "safe"? I guess I'll be charitable and say he was talking about preventing a stampede out of the building. Give me a break. How about this - next time a student reports seeing a weapon loaded in the school, the police and staff can just ignore it. Will that make you happy?
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Post by gatordog on Dec 16, 2008 11:58:55 GMT -5
I wonder what Daeschner meant by this...there was supposedly no threat, so how were the children kept "safe"? I guess I'll be charitable and say he was talking about preventing a stampede out of the building. What are you talking about? The was no threat. There was a potential threat. The staff and police kept our children safe by: 1. Putting the school in a posture where the the potential threat was greatly reduced until it could be understood. 2. Figuring out what the truth of the matter really was 3. Capturing the culprits I (and every parent I know of who had a child involved) join Dr D in commending the staff and the police for the job they did in keeping our children safe. Well said!
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Post by asmodeus on Dec 16, 2008 14:53:49 GMT -5
I wonder what Daeschner meant by this...there was supposedly no threat, so how were the children kept "safe"? I guess I'll be charitable and say he was talking about preventing a stampede out of the building. Give me a break. How about this - next time a student reports seeing a weapon loaded in the school, the police and staff can just ignore it. Will that make you happy? What I am saying, which apparently wasn't clear to you, was that according to authorities, that there was NO real threat (in hindsight, of course). In other words, if there had been a bomb scare, but no bomb existed, you wouldn't thank police for keeping you safe -- because there was no actual threat.
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Post by asmodeus on Dec 16, 2008 14:55:00 GMT -5
By the way, I am not criticizing the police response, just Daeschner's choice of words.
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Post by eb204 on Dec 16, 2008 16:11:37 GMT -5
Would you have been happy if he was thanking them for keeping our children "potentially safe" since it was only a potential threat? At the time, it was not known what if any threat existed, therefore they had to be secured. Their response to that was appropriate and it DID keep kids and staff safe because there was no panic that came of this potential scare. Had the principal or police reacted any differently, there may have been kids who, in their rush to find their own way to "safety" (as they might have seen it), might have done some pretty rash things themselves, especially kids that are might fall apart under the circumstances. Sometimes people just need to take comments at face value instead of ripping apart every word. Had this come from someone in a different school district, I doubt you'd be looking for something to pick at. Had this been handled any differently, you'd be complaining about THAT! Instead you pick apart a freakin' compliment to the staff and authorities. "What does he mean by that?" Get over it!
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Post by slt on Dec 17, 2008 9:35:47 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/opinions/valleyviews/1333936,2_5_AU17_VVTATAR_S1.article Waubonsie lockdown real scare for parents Gun incident imposes test no emergency drill could replicate Comments December 17, 2008 For me, it started with a phone call. At 8:46 a.m. Dec. 10, a friend called to say she received a text message from her son at Waubonsie Valley High School that the school was under lockdown. She'd heard there was a gunman with a hostage and wondered what I had heard from my daughter Kathy, a junior at the school. And what I'd heard was nothing. For hours, I followed news of the lockdown and police search on Internet message boards, Facebook, and news Web sites, as well as through phone calls, texts and e-mails. Throughout the lockdown, I never heard from my daughter. I later found out she was in PE when the school was locked down and didn't have access to a phone. I am known for being unflappable and this turned out to be a very emotional morning for me. Certain bits of news from reliable sources did nothing to calm my nerves. Automated e-mails and phone calls from the school made it appear everyone was safe. I continued to be concerned that I had heard nothing from my daughter and that any person with a gun may not care that the building was teeming with police. We have seen on the news too many times what can and does happen when someone brings a gun to school. The fact that nothing had happened yet did not reassure me all that much, but I was relieved that it seemed the rumor of a hostage was just that. At 12:30, we finally had confirmation the five-hour lockdown was over. A gun had been found. It was an Airsoft pistol that could not have hurt anyone, but looked remarkably like the real thing. Two students had been arrested. The student who had reported the gun was commended. The actions of a couple of students caused an entire day of instruction to be lost shortly before finals. They cost many law enforcement hours and I'm sure thousands of hours of lost productivity for parents. I hope this event was useful for both local law enforcement and the school district in practicing for a real emergency that we hope never happens, in a way that no drill could ever replicate. I hope most students and teachers were either bored or having fun and not scared and worried much of the time. Many people said that the fear in the principal's voice was obvious when she announced the lockdown on the intercom. This scared the people in the building and made all take the announcement seriously. The students and many of the staff seemed to lack information about what was happening and what they might have to be afraid of, which led to more fear and certainly rumors that spread with so many students having cell phones and some having window views of what was happening outside. As time went on, the lack of food and lack of bathroom access became bigger issues. Apparently a pat-down and police escort was required for a trip to the bathroom, and if they hadn't gotten to your room yet, you were out of luck. This led to the need for wastebaskets to be used as make-shift toilets in some classrooms. The first notification of the lockdown sent to parents was more than an hour after it began. The first priority of the staff is of course to deal with the situation at hand, but at the same time it seems that one person at the school or district office might have been assigned earlier to send accurate and timely information to the listserv. This may have helped prevent some of the panic coming from uninformed text messages being sent by students in what seemed to be the world's worst game of telephone. The automated calling system, which is new this year, worked wonderfully in emergency mode for getting messages to all phone numbers for each student. Parents who did not receive some of the phone or e-mail messages now know they need to update their information with the school. In hindsight, the students seem to think this is all very funny since the threat turned out not to be real. But from the stories I have heard of fearful students and brave teachers, I know that it was not at all funny at the time. I commend the Aurora Police Department, DuPage County Sheriff's Department, the WV administration and staff and anyone else who assisted in the lockdown and search of this building with more than 3,000 people in it -- for keeping our kids safe and for finding the weapon and the culprits. I pray the lessons learned this day are never ever needed. SherryTatar@ameritech.net
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Post by steckdad on Dec 17, 2008 11:18:09 GMT -5
I thought BB guns could cause physical harm -- is that incorrect? I am assuming you have never experienced an AirSoft gun......and I don't mean that in a bad way. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoftwww.airsoft.com/I suppose you could poke an eye out. They shoot plastic "BBs" not metal.......I think you would hard pressed to break the skin with one of the ones sold here in the US. The real problem with these "toys" is their realistic look. Many have taken the liberty to darken the orange tip. I have several in evidence, that if you were to put the airsoft gun next to the real thing, you would have a hard time tellling them apart, even at fairly close range.....That IMO is the really scary part...... Yup...and what do cops do when the have a look alike gun pulled on them? they shoot and ask questions later....
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Post by momto4 on Dec 18, 2008 16:27:49 GMT -5
---- Forwarded Message ---- From: School District 204 <204-enews@ipsd.org> Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 3:23:29 PM Subject: 204 E-News: Lockdown Discussed We want to let the community know that both of our organizations met today to discuss last week's lockdown at Waubonsie Valley High School. We looked at what worked and what could be improved. Although we identified areas to improve, we both felt last week's event was handled appropriately and overall things ran as they should. Locking down a school the size of Waubonsie Valley is a major undertaking that took a great deal of coordination between the school's staff and the police. It also took coordination between the Aurora Police and other area agencies that provided additional support. The safety of our students is always a top priority. Keeping the students safe was the focus of every action that took place last Wednesday. We will take information from today's meeting and share it with our respective staff members, make adjustments as needed, and continue to place student safety at the forefront of everything we do. Thank you for your continued support. Stephen Daeschner Superintendent, Indian Prairie School District 204 Gregory Thomas Chief of Police, City of Aurora ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- School District 204 www.ipsd.org780 Shoreline Drive Aurora, IL 60504 USA
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Post by title1parent on Dec 20, 2008 6:52:30 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1341418,2_1_AU20_WAUBONSIE_S1.article Police chief targets communication issues after recent lockdown at Waubonsie ValleyDecember 20, 2008 By MATT HANLEY mhanley@scn1.com Aurora police and officials from the Indian Prairie School District sat down this week to talk about what worked and what didn't during the four-hour lockdown at Waubonsie Valley High School earlier this month. At the end of the meeting, they determined the response by school staff and police officers to the potential threat worked well, but communication needs to improve. Students were locked in their classrooms for about four hours on Dec. 10, after a student spotted two people handling a gun. The weapon turned out to be a BB gun and no one was injured. Two Waubonsie Valley High School students were charged with disorderly conduct. Police Chief Greg Thomas would not talk about the tactical changes that the police might make after the Waubonsie lockdown, but he said he was "absolutely" satisfied with the response of both the school's staff and the SWAT squad. However, Thomas admitted communication with parents could have been better. If police can get better information out to parents, Thomas hopes that will cut down on a second problem: rumors that spread from the school into the community. Thomas said parents were getting text messages from students in the school claiming people had been shot, which was false. With those type of messages going out, it's understandable that parents were worried, Thomas said. After the incident, many parents complained they were not receiving enough information about what was happening. In a future event, Thomas would like to use either reverse calling or e-mail to communicate the accurate, timely information to parents. "If you don't give the updates, that's when the rumors start," Thomas said. Thomas stopped short of saying that students shouldn't be allowed to use cell phones in the school since it was a student's cell call that notified them about the BB gun in the first place. He said it was an issue they will continue to explore. Thomas hopes better communication will also cut down on parents who either called the police or tried to go to the school. As a parent, Thomas said he certainly understands their reaction. The problem is that the calls and crowds outside the school draw police resources away from the search inside the school. "We're not going to be standing around answering phones," Thomas said. "We have to deal with the emergency first." Since there will probably be another lockdown at some point, Thomas recommends in the future parents look for information from the school district. School Superintendent Stephen Daeschner declined comment on the meeting. However, in a joint statement sent to parents on Thursday, he said the lockdown was handled appropriately.
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Post by gatormom on Dec 20, 2008 10:13:12 GMT -5
Very nice followup. Nice to see the district and law enforcement working together to put adjust the procedures in these cases.
Thank goodness this ended peacefully and with no injuries or worse. I think we are very fortunate to have had a true lockdown practice run.
The city of Aurora has 5 school districts and the chances of something happening in any one of them exists in this day and age. If nothing else, other districts and law enforcement will benefit from this experience and what was learned.
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Post by asmodeus on Dec 20, 2008 14:13:26 GMT -5
Very nice followup. Nice to see the district and law enforcement working together to put adjust the procedures in these cases. Thank goodness this ended peacefully and with no injuries or worse. I think we are very fortunate to have had a true lockdown practice run. The city of Aurora has 5 school districts and the chances of something happening in any one of them exists in this day and age. If nothing else, other districts and law enforcement will benefit from this experience and what was learned. Considering the nature of this threat, I don't know that anything could be learned. Everyone quoted in these stories is saying the only thing that could be improved is the speed of communication. However, had the threat been real, such as a gunman with hostages, would the principal have sent out accurate descriptions? Do we as parents have a right to know such details? Many may feel we do but clearly there is a downside to full disclosure, namely panic by both students and parents, with some possibly trying to be a hero and interfering with law enforcement. It seems as though incidents that would cause a lockdown are not treated the same way as are fire drills, which are practiced often. Should we actually have lockdown-type practice routines? In other words, no one questions the need for fire drills, as fire is always a threat...should hostage or bomb type incidents be given similar treatment or would that actually make the problem worse?
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Post by title1parent on Dec 20, 2008 14:33:30 GMT -5
It seems as though incidents that would cause a lockdown are not treated the same way as are fire drills, which are practiced often. Should we actually have lockdown-type practice routines? In other words, no one questions the need for fire drills, as fire is always a threat...should hostage or bomb type incidents be given similar treatment or would that actually make the problem worse? Not sure what you mean, as the schools do practice lockdown drills. We had practiced one at the ES, and I know that the HS had a practice drill and then the drug dog lockdown prior to this happening. There are 2 types of lockdowns.
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Post by asmodeus on Dec 20, 2008 21:46:23 GMT -5
I did not know that. If that is the case, how did this incident differ from one of the drills?
I assume you mean one where the outside doors are closed and no one can exit/enter, and the second type where everyone stays in the room where they are. Was this the second type? And if so, were the teachers in each room informed of what was going on and were they able to pass the info to the kids?
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Post by title1parent on Dec 20, 2008 22:30:01 GMT -5
My son said that when the dogs came, the teacher made sure that the doors were locked and they continued on with their lesson and instruction. He also said that the drill they had prior to the dogs was the type that they experienced the other week. Teacher locked the doors, kids were put in a safe place, quiet and lights off.
Based on what we have done at the ES school, we had practiced the second type with putting the students in a safe place with lights off and quiet. I am aware there are these two types. At the ES, the situation is usually that of a custody issue that we are concerned with, but you never know what the seriousness could be.
Regarding the teachers knowing, he said there was the intial announcement to go under lockdown, there was a second announcement about ignoring the bells, and then the police came to the rooms after a certain amount of time. I would assume with the length of the drills....which are usually 15-20 minutes...., the teachers figured out after that passing, that it wasnt a drill. Dont know what all of the teachers knew.
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