A couple of days ago, I related what I considered to be an unusual exchange in our school’s office. My brother commented:
As a Connecticut resident, you should be able to think of at least one horrific reason why office personnel may be a little less lenient with visitors now a days. I am not saying you should be suspected of anything, but it is always the people that people least suspect. Additionally, I find it encouraging that someone in that office has the guts to stand up and say something that puts everyone on notice that “we are watching”. Would you rather have them not notice?
You may be known, but how many times does the crazy person have to calmly walk into the office before everyone is comfortable with that individual too?
Liability is a scary thing, and when the lives of children are at stake, it might be best to support efforts at security and encourage a second glance or an extra question. Unfortunately, it only takes one person letting something slide to change the course of a life forever.
I received another comment highlighting this article as well, which was something I was aware of.
I had considered this but didn’t bother writing it up in the original post. I might as well address it here.
So, assuming it is part of some kind of new security protocol, allow me to say I’m more concerned now than before. Keep in mind, I had already gained access to the building. Not only that, I had walked straight into the office. School shooters are not rational people, and this “security protocol”, if it is such, seems to have been concocted by someone expecting rational behavior. If I’d been armed and intending to do damage, then I was at the point where all I had to do was start shooting.
I don’t think it’s too hard to game out that trying to account for everything an irrational person is a near impossibility. Perhaps I’d planted a bomb. Perhaps my target was down the hall from the office- remember, I was already inside and no one met me until I reached the office.
It’s scary to think about this stuff for too long because it quickly becomes apparent just how easy a target a school is. I would say 99.99% of the time, the person walking through the front door is a parent with some kind of legitimate business. Administrative people need parent’s help and generally don’t want to create too many hassles for them. To impose enough obstacles so as to dissuade an irrational person would impose serious inconveniences on the 99.99%. Personally, the one thing I think would work is armed guard, or making it known that there are teachers with concealed carry permits within the building. But that’s an argument for another post.
So, based on it’s complete ineffectiveness, I’m going to say I hope this wasn’t part of the school’s new security measures. Thus, why I didn’t mention this in the previous post.
My best guess is there’s some kind of new office protocol that hasn’t been communicated to us, the parents, yet. Perhaps they were saving it for the 1st day of school packets. My second best guess is this woman is a new hire and she was just carrying out her job. Clumsily, I might add.
5 replies on “What to Make of This Followup”
The DOORS to your niece’s school are locked at all times. NO ONE may gain access unless they identify themselves to the front office … IF they are picking up a student … this must be a pre-notification and proper ID must be shown. When we, as grandparents, go to pick up our grand daughter, we must identifyy ourselves before the lock is released, and then we show our driver license as a photo ID …
Perhaps, after the events of last year, your district is finally catching up … I agree … the system seems to lack any kind of ‘ounce of prevention’ … and the Chief Officer in charge of safety … certainly should have been introduced to the school public … NOT a lot to expect – given the ‘shooter’ who made headlines yesterday down south.
Anything is better than nothing, and while I doubt the woman who confronted you was a newly hired former gorilla commando undercover, at least she confronted you. It takes a lot of guts to walk up to someone and tell them they were not following the rules.
I do not intend for this to be an argumentative statement, because I completely understand your point of view. But, I stand by my comment that you should, perhaps, support ANY effort, and offer advice on improvements to those efforts, instead of belittling a person that was just trying to ask someone to do what they are supposed to do.
If one person picks up their head, does not get shot by your irrational assailant, and can call 911, maybe lives get saved. I certainly like the sound of the security that Mom described MUCH better, but again, something is better than nothing.
What you say about offering my opinion is probably true. But, the fact remains I have NO idea why she confronted me in the manner she did. I have my doubts RE security, but I could be wrong. Won’t be the first or last time. I also don’t have a big problem if they’ve just adopted a stricter approach to who gors where in the office- though I personally don’t think highly of such endeavors since in my experience they make things unnecessarily less efficient.
Larger picture, you and I are talking past each other. I find her behavior odd based on all available evidence. You’re convinced she’s part of a security measure based on your available evidence. At this point, the school will have to clarify.
No, I doubt she is part of a security measure, unless, she IS a gorilla and was just sizing you up.
I think it was a talking point at one of their seminars, “keep an eye out for anything unusual, speak up, don’t be afraid to say something, be aware of red flags, be vigilant, etc.”, that sort of thing. My guess is that she was just trying to be a good soldier in a new world that has revealed unparalleled levels of crazy.
I don’t mean to add to any fears, but the school is easily accessible after hours. I’ve brought this up but no one seems too concerned. I asked norm once to investigate a kid who seemed like not a student walking down the hall puffing on a cigarette. He was not a student and was looking for a friend in the gym. Why he was wandering the halls I will never know. But any time there are after school events anyone can walk in. I’ve never liked that.