# Serious incident at my kids' school **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 9, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026 "2015-10-09T13:48:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/21 "2015-10-09T15:43:36Z")
The office staff should be armed in case of future intruders. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/22 "2015-10-09T15:46:22Z")
Just wait until next year’s commemoration of the event, complete with a minute of silence and a flyover by the National Guard. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/23 "2015-10-09T15:46:32Z")
The students too. I don’t want my little angels to have to wait for staff to show up. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/24 "2015-10-09T15:47:06Z")
The email said they wanted to clarify information about it, so there was information out there already and this email was probably to let everyone know that it was no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/25 "2015-10-09T15:48:15Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > The school staff acted responsibly by engaging with this person. > > The school administration acted stupidly by turning a non-event into a thing. > > This need not have been a thing. Certainly not an email to all parents alerting them that their children are, ‘OMG, still alright 24 hours after nothing happened!’. > > If the schools insist on this level of helicoptering then they: a) cannot complain about the level of helicopter parenting, and b) must agree to send an email to all parents every hour on the hour saying, “It’s X o’clock and all is well.” > > That way, if they miss the hourly check in with parents, someone will surely have the sense to call the authorities. No, **RealityChuck** is right. The school has to helicopter because of the helicopter parents. If some little Jonny had off-handedly said something about a STRANGE MAN _cough_child molester_cough_ walking across campus during recess, when the children are most vulnerable to being kidnapped and child molested, some ninny mom would flip her shit and call the school and tear them a new one and how dare they put little Johnny in such horrific danger and that she is going to sue for 50 gabillion dollars for emotional trauma. My sister in-law is one of these ninnies. On the first day of school this year one of my nephews teachers called him by his first name instead of his nickname. She flipped her shit and emailed the teacher in question, nephews counselor and the principal that the nephew should be called by the nick name. When she regaled us of her great victory she said, “If I wanted him to be called by his first name I would have named him by his first name and not his nick name.” I pointed out that she did, in fact, name him his first name and that his nick name is a combo of his first and middle names. She gave me the evil eye and changed the topic. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/26 "2015-10-09T15:57:21Z")
The only thing I find unbelievable about this event is that a staff member was detailed to deal with the intruder. In my kid’s school district, one of the campus police officers (actual armed LEO) that are normally just hanging around would have been dispatched. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/27 "2015-10-09T16:09:46Z")
My guess is this is a perfectly reasonable response, by a school official, with more info than we are privy to, who is more than aware that this all occured in front of the most hysterical mother of the lot. Maybe he knows she is likely to broadcast this simple event, framed by her hysteria and revelling in spreading fear. I’d wager there is such a mother in every school. The ‘clarify information’ is the tell to me. Also I’ll bet every parent who gets this knows which mother that is and why it was sent. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/28 "2015-10-09T16:11:50Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > If the schools insist on this level of helicoptering… The schools don’t insist on anything of the kind. It tends to be driven by a subset of parents who will completely freak out if their kid comes home and says, “Some guy walked across the baseball fields today and Mr. Whatsit went out to talk to him.” So even the least incident gets followed up, sometimes to the level of absurdity in the OP. I don’t know anyone in any school who actually agrees with this kind of action except in extreme CYA mode. Most are insulted by the idea that they can’t tell a guy cutting through the athletic fields from someone dressed and acting suspiciously, and that they have to react as if every passerby could be an armed mass murderer. Because, of course, the day a perfectly ordinary looking guy pulls two guns out from under his coat and opens up on a playground or classroom window, everyone from the cafeteria lady to the local Senator is going to be on the grill for not being sufficiently alert. And they know it. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/29 "2015-10-09T16:12:14Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > The only thing I find unbelievable about this event is that a staff member was detailed to deal with the intruder. In my kid’s school district, one of the campus police officers (actual armed LEO) that are normally just hanging around would have been dispatched. We don’t have one of those, I don’t think. > [@elbows](#): > > The ‘clarify information’ is the tell to me. Also I’ll bet every parent who gets this knows which mother that is and why it was sent. I want names, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/30 "2015-10-09T16:21:44Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Strangers aren’t tolerated on school grounds any more. There’s an elementary school between my home and the train station, and every morning myself and several other people cross the school grounds as the kids are on the playground. The crossing guards – police auxiliaries IIRC – wave hello to us (and we wave back), and the adult supervising the playground glances as we pass and then studiously ignores us. 🙂 Morning after morning, five days a week, every week that school is in session\* and nobody says boo except for the friendly crossing guards. :smack: \*I also cross the school grounds in non-school weeks, and coming home from my evening train, but there’s no kids there then, only a maintenance worker taking a smoking break outside. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/31 "2015-10-09T16:36:07Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > School shootings are bad, because they can lead to things like this. The Baptist version: Premarital sex is bad, because it might lead to dancing. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/32 "2015-10-09T16:43:46Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > There’s an elementary school between my home and the train station, and every morning myself and several other people cross the school grounds as the kids are on the playground. The crossing guards – police auxiliaries IIRC – wave hello to us (and we wave back), and the adult supervising the playground glances as we pass and then studiously ignores us. 🙂 Morning after morning, five days a week, every week that school is in session\* and nobody says boo except for the friendly crossing guards. :smack: I think you missed the word “stranger” up there. You’re also describing a normal, daily occurrence that happens for some obvious reason of foot traffic, at a particular time of the day, and with a supervising school official in charge of the area. Many schools are in close proximity to bus stops, businesses, etc. where some adult foot traffic would be expected. Someone unidentified, wandering around the playground or athletic fields, at an arbitrary time of the the day is another situation entirely. Especially if the school is not surrounded by foot-traffic paths as it might be in a city. Many suburban and rural schools are quite isolated, and there is no normal reason an adult would be wandering around their fringes or grounds. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/33 "2015-10-09T16:51:20Z")
You’re the second person to use the word “wander” without it ever appearing in the email I got. We have no evidence that he was wandering, and based on my personal knowledge of the terrain, the route he took, while not necessarily a paved footpath or anything, is the _only_ sensible route to take as a shortcut. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/34 "2015-10-09T16:57:36Z")
Here is why the OP is completely wrong, along with the ridiculousness of buzzers and what not in the name of school security: \*\* School shooting are almost ALWAYS done by people who have permission to be on campus.\*\* Think about it. How many shooting have been strangers off the street or an angry parent? None! They are always students or in the case of Sandy Hook the son of one of the workers. In other words, school shooting are done by people who the security protocols would not stop anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/35 "2015-10-09T17:10:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If there was a Catholic church nearby he was probably a Bishop. I would have called the SWAT team. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/36 "2015-10-09T17:10:53Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > You’re the second person to use the word “wander” without it ever appearing in the email I got. > > We have no evidence that he was wandering, and based on my personal knowledge of the terrain, the route he took, while not necessarily a paved footpath or anything, is the _only_ sensible route to take as a shortcut. And the school personnel knew which of many ambulatory verbs to apply, how? You seem to be nitpicking away at largely agreeing posts, here. I’m not sure what kind of response you were looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/37 "2015-10-09T17:14:48Z")
At least no children were arrested. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/38 "2015-10-09T17:16:20Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Here is why the OP is completely wrong, along with the ridiculousness of buzzers and what not in the name of school security: > \*\* > School shooting are almost ALWAYS done by people who have permission to be on campus.\*\* > > Think about it. How many shooting have been strangers off the street or an angry parent? None! They are always students or in the case of Sandy Hook the son of one of the workers. In other words, school shooting are done by people who the security protocols would not stop anyways. True for some large percentage of cases. A few have been ‘strangers’ - and I defy anyone to devise away to have halted the Stockton (California) schoolyard massacre of about 25 years ago. IIRC, the guy had no connection to the school - just walked up to the incompletely-fenced schoolyard and opened fire with multiple weapons. And having observed too many school security preparations post-Sandy Hook, I haven’t found one that a reasonably \*compos \*and driven nut couldn’t get through in less than a minute, ready to spend the remainder of emergency response time having lots of fun. Remembering to bring a small sledge or big pry bar pretty much limits the tactic of locking classroom doors. Even if absolutely everything goes to plan, there will be casualties. But what exactly _are_ we supposed to do? Answers from those with kids in school, or having had kids finish high school no more than maybe ten years ago especially solicited. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/39 "2015-10-09T17:18:00Z")
Confronting strangers on campus has been SOP in every school where I have ever worked. The email was not needed, but i understand the rationale behind sending it. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026/40 "2015-10-09T17:26:45Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > But what exactly _are_ we supposed to do? Answers from those with kids in school, or having had kids finish high school no more than maybe ten years ago especially solicited. I have a kid in high school and I am a teacher. Short of turning schools into fortresses/prisons, there isn’t a whole lot more that can be done about an armed intruder whose sole goal is to enter the school and shoot some people than is already being done. The money and the will aren’t there for walled/fenced campuses with no ground-level windows and secure entry points. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serious-incident-at-my-kids-school/734026.md?page=3)