School Lockdown

Have you ever heard of a "lockdown" drill for a school? When I was young we practiced  fire and tornado drills. But now, apparently, today's youth preps for attack.

My yoga instructor teaches an art class at a middle school 2 days a week. When she arrived at the school last Thursday, she found the doors locked and a sign saying no one was allowed in or out of the building. There had been a break-in at a nearby home and guns had been stolen. They didn't know where the 2 guys were who did it, so the school was on lockdown.

My yoga teacher's comment was, "The kids did really well considering they hadn't practiced for it. My daughter's school would have been ready. They just did a lockdown drill last week."

Then a middle school music teacher chimed in that at her school they brought the SWAT team in to act the part of bad guys. At one point, the library teacher tried to lock the library door but wasn't fast enough so the "bad guys" grabbed her and dragged her off to another room. Meanwhile, the kids are instructed to pull the blinds and then stay as far away as possible from any windows. They're also to barricade the door and sit still and not make a sound to alert anyone to their presence.

Oh. My. God. Is this normal now in our nation? Not having kids, I suppose I'm out of the loop. But my jaw was just on the floor as I was brought up to date on today's school drills.  I see how it makes sense to practice but... how incredibly sad that a drill is needed for such a thing.

Is this news to anyone else, or just me?