* Lock the door to the classroom and stack as many chairs as possible in front of the door making a barrier.

* If necessary, Use clothing items tied together to make make a rope/ladder.

I am lucky to work in an outstanding (by all standards) school district. I also keep a cricket bat by my desk in case of emergency. I would glady go through certification training if I were allowed to have a handgun in school.

I homeschool, so the likelihood of them being “in school” is small. But one of them takes math at a church and the other is at the college for dual credit, so it’s possible. If we’re at home, I’ll be the resource person keeping them safe.

Actually thinking through all their day, in regards to their school, will help. Can they get out of the back if they’re in line in the cafeteria? If they’re in the hall between class A and class B, where is the closest exit? Which windows open easily? Can they lift the chairs? If they have thought through what they could do, they’ll be safer if they have to do it. Help them think it through.

One big way to help them is to go through this planning for at home. If they’re in the kitchen, where do they go? Etc. Then once yall’ve gone through the home planning, you can ask them the school questions.

The name of the program should be changed: Police Training for Schools.

The only thing I’d add to your mental preparation is scenario 4, which is any of the first 3 with the addition of you having killed or wounded a student.

I raise the issue because for sure the media, politicians, and other assorted fools have before and will in the event.

You’re trained, competent, and equipped, but you’re also being asked to perform to perfection in the most stressful environment imagineable. The odds are way in your favor that it won’t happen, but the effect of that outcome on you, your family, the victim’s family, your school, department, and city justify making sure all are as prepared as possible. I’m not telling you anything new, I hope.

Admirable. Thanks for doing the job.

They probably like it too.

1. Call it in. Get the cavalry on the way.
2. Confront the shooter by placing fire on him. Take his focus off the kids.

In the event of a shooting at my school, by the time the backup gets there, I expect that there will be one of three possible scenarios for SWAT to deal with.

1. I’ve killed the bastard and I’ll be able to point to the body.
2. He’ll have killed me, but a lot of kids will have escaped.
3. I’ll have him hemmed up in a room by himself and the SWAT guys can do their thing.

This is something I think about every day, that I’ve gamed and planned. I know the distances from the entrance doors the room doors, the lengths of the hallways and available cover and concealment.

If your local area doesn’t have resource officers, start lobbying for it now. We had some resistance when we began the program, but now everyone admits it is a resounding success. I’ve had numerous teachers tell me that they were opposed to the program at the beginning, but that now they wouldn’t work in a school without a resource officer.

With a resource officer available, no one needs call the cops. We’re already there.

In these situations we (and/or our children) need to realize this *isn’t* random – it’s planned.

Ironically, most state laws require rooms that can hold 20 or more people to have two exit doors. Yet most public buildings are note required to honor those building codes. Just like they don’t have to honor handicapped access building codes.

I’ve worked with a lot of kids who have done special projects for DARE, most don’t do drugs, all know schoolmates who do, and some know their parents do drugs.

My recommendation is culled from a speech by a child therapist – she called it the “later” theory. Basically, nobody likes to be told “no”. With children in line at the grocery store check out lane howling for a piece of candy, “no” doesn’t work as well as “later”. “Later” may actually be “never”, but it settles the immediate problem.

Extending the idea to kids and drugs, we’ve developed a process of explaining that the decision to try or use drugs is an adult decision – just like sex, abortion, and marriage. By explaining to the kids that they shouldn’t do drugs until they are old enough to make adult decisions, you’ve essentially used the “later” process.

In many cases, you aren’t telling the kid how to live their life – you are honoring their decision making process – and you’ve given them a tool to use against peer pressure. By teaching them to say “later” to their peers who may pressure them, you’ve given them a way to say “no” that is defensible. I’ve taught many kids to say “Some other time” when passed a joint. It is very effective.

I’m not a huge advocate of Martial Arts per se because too many people are overconfident and believe that their mediocre mastery of mediocre training makes them bulletproof, knifeproof, bikerproof, etc.

But if you find an instructor with the right mindset and work yourself to instill the proper attitude in your children about it, some first hand sparring experience can be invaluable in instilling the confidence, ability and will to actually fight back rather than just cower in fear with the rest of the sheep.

One thing I’d add to your list of things to teach. Tell your kids to figure out escape routes in advance.

They should look around the classroom and be aware of where they can go if there is a shooter in the hall.

They also should be aware of the exits they can’t used on a normal basis but could in an emergency. Mostly I’m thinking of doors with fire alarms on them, but this could include windows.

Many modern buildings have windows that do not open. Many older buildings have windows that are stuck closed and kids in particular may not be strong enough to open them fast.

Teaching kids (and I’ve done this with co-workers also) to look around ahead of time for things that can be used to smash open a window quickly. Chairs, heavy objects (fire extinquisers are common), computer monitors, etc.

Then throw anything available (coats, fire blanket, etc.) over the bottom of the window and scramble out. But waist no time looking to cover the broken glass. If something is not readily available, you need to go out the window anyway. A chair as a step to the window sill means only your shoes deal with broken glass.

Depending on the kids age, I’ve found it best to to frame the drill in context of something scary and dangerous and inanimate, like a fire, and then mention it can be used in any emergency to get the hell out of Dodge.

I guess having a cop (i.e. a discredited, irrational, mistrusted, arbitrary authority figure) blow smoke about how crack is instantly addictive upon the tiniest first dose (this is actually what DARE tried to convince me of) is ineffective at best and enticing at worst.

That actually requires a good bit of training to be able to do effectively: to be able to form a relatively cohesive/coherent team from 4 random officers, on the fly. Requires every officer to know the responsibilities of every position in the ’stack.’

My unit teaches MOUT drills, and that isn’t easy.