As some of my CTER classmates know, my school, Rantoul Township High School went on soft lockdown this week. At about 1:40 on Wednesday, October 1st, there was a man outside my classroom screaming and shouting that he was going to kill everyone. This is not normal behavior in our neighborhood, so we called the school office and reported it. Within a few minutes the police arrived and we were put on "soft lockdown". The building and surrounding grounds were searched and secured, and we all had to stay in our rooms with the doors locked until an "all clear" was sounded.
Technology has changed our security system tremendously! Within 5 minutes of the lockdown, 785 parents or guardians were notified of the situation either by email or phone! Every teacher in the building received the email as well! Luckily, the threats were not serious- apparently the man yelling was a local man who had a history of mental illness and has been known to do this sort of thing at the local IGA and the Family Video. If only we had known that!
But my real comment is about the technology... I think it is great that all parents are notified of the potential threats at their children's school. I would have probably felt better as a parent knowing what was going on when my children were in school.
Or would I? Does this technology and messaging system create distress and panic in the community? If I am at work 30 miles away, how will I react to the fact that my child may be in danger? Apparently many parents reacted just as I think I would... they left their jobs and their homes and parked outside the building. They continuously called the school office for updates, jamming the phone lines so bad that no one could call in or out! One parent must have called the media, bacause by the time our lockdown was lifted 45 minutes after it began, the local TV station was already there with a reporter and a camera.
I just don't know how I really feel on the subject. Until this past Wednesday I thought I was all in favor of the messaging system. But now I just don't know. I see both the pros and the cons. I see that as a parent, I want to be informed, and in a position to do whatever is necessary to protect my children. But also as a parent, I am not sure I would have the capability to react logically and sensibly in an emergency situation when my child is on the inside and I am on the outside! What would the consequences have been had there been a real threat to our safety and the phones had been jammed and parents had the bus lanes blocked so that we couldn't have evacuated students if need be? With so many vehicles around the bilding, how could we be sure of who the bad guys and good guys were?
I'll keep thinking about this one, and hope that we don't have to deal with a similar situation any time soon. I am sure as my teacher brain has a few days to rest and relax before the new week begins, I will be less negative about the idea!
About Me
- CTER Blog
- A Blog created for EPSY 556: Analysis of Advanced Instructional Technologies
What About Me?
My name is Margie Hay-Ashcraft and I am just about to complete my CTER course work at the University of Illinois. Yeah!!!
This year marks my 11th in teaching, and I must say the time has flown by! I teach at the alternative education program, Eagle Academy, at Rantoul Township High School. Our program is in its second year, and I really think Ihave found my dream job! I work with 30 kids on a daily basis and help them to finish high school on time. Most of our students are way behind and we use a combination of NovelStars, a computer based program, teacher taught classes, and individualized packets for the students. The best part of the day is seeing a student who has had little success in the regular school setting complete a class to earn a credit!
At home, life is a circus! I have a husband, two daughters and two grandchildren living under one roof! My daughters are 20 and 22, my grandaughter is 3 and my grandson just turned 1! My 82 year old mother lives next door, so I am definitely a part of the "sandwich generation". But, our house, while busy and cluttered with trikes and toys, is one that I look forward to coming home to every night! I also have a stepson who left for
Afghanistan in April. We pray that he will return to the states safely in July of 2009.
I am a digital immigrant. I bought my first computer in 1993 and taught myself just about everything I knew about it. I was a 3o year old computer nerd! I was also the first "nerd" I knew! I was in college working on my teaching degree and knew that I wantd to teach with technology. I was one of the first teachers to use power point or show internet video clips in my classroom. I am now a part of our school's first "teaching with technology" team! The process has been slow, but I thinkl we moving forward.
More later... I think some of the circus clowns have escaped and are about to let the monkeys loose!
This year marks my 11th in teaching, and I must say the time has flown by! I teach at the alternative education program, Eagle Academy, at Rantoul Township High School. Our program is in its second year, and I really think Ihave found my dream job! I work with 30 kids on a daily basis and help them to finish high school on time. Most of our students are way behind and we use a combination of NovelStars, a computer based program, teacher taught classes, and individualized packets for the students. The best part of the day is seeing a student who has had little success in the regular school setting complete a class to earn a credit!
At home, life is a circus! I have a husband, two daughters and two grandchildren living under one roof! My daughters are 20 and 22, my grandaughter is 3 and my grandson just turned 1! My 82 year old mother lives next door, so I am definitely a part of the "sandwich generation". But, our house, while busy and cluttered with trikes and toys, is one that I look forward to coming home to every night! I also have a stepson who left for
Afghanistan in April. We pray that he will return to the states safely in July of 2009.
I am a digital immigrant. I bought my first computer in 1993 and taught myself just about everything I knew about it. I was a 3o year old computer nerd! I was also the first "nerd" I knew! I was in college working on my teaching degree and knew that I wantd to teach with technology. I was one of the first teachers to use power point or show internet video clips in my classroom. I am now a part of our school's first "teaching with technology" team! The process has been slow, but I thinkl we moving forward.
More later... I think some of the circus clowns have escaped and are about to let the monkeys loose!
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3 comments:
Wow...how scary! Thank GOODNESS it was just an accident with that man...what are the chances?! I agree with you in that there are both pros and cons with these types of notification systems...we have one as well. Last year, there was a threat against our high school and it was the morning of Halloween. Our phone system went into effect and all teachers were notified before school and asked not to wear costumes. All parents were notified before school and that did quite a number on attendance that day. Turns out, nothing actually happened, the FBI investigated, and two suspects were found guilty.
Anyway...I think it is necessary to have the notification system in place because of what might happen if it weren't. What if there was something someone could do, but without being notified, they wouldn't be able to help? I feel like I would want to know if I were a parent, regardless of if I were close or not. I think it's better to be far away and feel helpless, but maybe be able to call someone else who could help instead of not knowing at all. Especially in instances where shootings actually happen; if students perhaps get injured and sent to the hospital, I would imagine parents would want to know ASAP so they could get to the hospital for their injured child.
Just some additional thoughts...it's a sticky situation, but I think much more could go wrong if parents were not notified in these types of situations.
I read a similar story from other student's blog and both stories made me feel scary and worried about the situation. The idea that this can happen here in Champaign any time for real made me more frustrating. I agree with Jillian about technology. U of I's using email and text message alert system as well and I know there can be some false alarms, spams, and financial burdens using this. However, I don't want to get into trouble without any knowledge when there are options to choose not to and technologies to let me informed about the situation ahead. Nothing's perfect and can be a cure-all for the problems. Anyway, we need to seriously think about why this keeps happening and how we prevent this from happening in future.
Lockdowns are always a scary situation for teachers and students. After we had a kid bring a gun to school (Rochester High School) our school took a very proactive approach. We had the police force come in and do a training with the teachers. They had us all go to our classrooms and pretend it was a normal school day and had one of the police officers come through like a school shooter. We were supposed to act the way we would if it were real. It was really interesting how everyone reacted with fake guns shooting in the hallways and how confusing it makes everything. The police filmed the shooter and their response so we got a two video look at what happened and they went through and told us what we should do in these situations. It was one of the best SIP Days we have had.
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