"Good morning, this is an important school status message from the Communications Office of Wicomico County Public Schools for families and staff of Charles H. Chipman Elementary, North Salisbury Elementary and Wicomico High School. We are letting you know that due to an incident in the community, these schools have been put in a precautionary safe-in-place status. Please know that the safety of our students is our highest priority, and we are collaborating with law enforcement on this precautionary measure. Instruction is continuing inside these school buildings as usual, but please know that access to these schools will be limited until we return to normal operations. The school principal will update you later in the day. Thank you."
10 comments:
Going to lock up my child and refuse to elaborate?
Somebody's misbehaving.
I've been told that it was a domestic incident involving a substitute teacher.
Subs can be problematic.
That's some messed up s*** not letting parents know what is going on in the school that their child is attending.
They told you what was going on in the school. Your child was being kept safe in place.
Dear Readers,
Before judgement is pronounced upon the schools/school system, please know the following.
1. School system personnel are in contact with law enforcement; typically LE directs the school system when an issue like this occurs. Notice the word 'directs' - while there is a good working relationship between the schools/ school system and law enforcement, the school system is not provided updates beyond anything cursory. To this end, the school system will utilize the calling system to notify parents/caregivers.
2. When schools move to either 'lock down' or 'shelter in place' this is done to (a) provide safety for children/staff and (b) deny access to the would be miscreants. LE needs to mitigate as many factors as quickly as possible, and I can assure you that this practice is universal in schools across the United States.
3. It may seem, at first blush, that the school system is withholding information from parents. I have never found this to be the case. Rather, the school system needs to be accurate. Disseminating erroneous information can cause significant problems for LE. Further, it is often quite difficult to gather all of the facts (and these are pieced together some time after the incident by LE.) The first charge LE and the school system will move to is providing safety.
4. When LE directs the school system to either 'lock down' or 'shelter in place', parents are denied access as are all other visitors. This is done to ensure the safety of all students and staff. This may seem harsh to parents/caregivers, however be mindful of the fact that the school system does not have any details about a LE situation. The only safe precaution is to secure the building and wait for direction. When the situation is deemed safe by LE, the schools are directed regarding this. At that time, parents may certainly pick up their children if they feel the need to. Further, as the schools have no other information other than being directed to secure the building(s), they have no information to share with parents/caregivers other than they were directed to do so. While it is certainly understandable that parents would want to call the schools to make sure their children are safe, the school offices have very little information to share other than acknowledging they are either on lock down or not. Further updates are provided by the school system via their calling system with whatever information they have or can share.
I would caution anyone to think about these facts prior to making any sort of judgement. It is quite easy to criticize but without all of the facts, and indeed without having the responsibility of securing the safety of so many children and staff, it is simply irresponsible to make statements.
Regards,
Paladin
They cannot be pleased 3:04,but nice try.
Alot of words explaining a school shut down and police have are in control (what ever that is). It would scare the hell out of me if I had a child in that situation. I guess it is the best they can do or is it?
As Paladin said, the safety of students and staff is the schools' #1 priority. In a lockdown situation, there is potential danger outside of the building. If parents come to the school, they are possibly endangering themselves. If they were able to enter and collect their child, then both the parent and the child are possibly in danger as they leave the building. Why is this so difficult for parents to understand? I "get it" - we all worry about our kids, but THINK...they ARE safe if they are locked in, and no one can enter (i.e., "the bad guy"). It is true that law enforcement does not give much information to the schools for the lock down or "safe in place". Schools can't share what they don't know! I remember not too many years ago when parents were not notified until the situation was over! (I think, maybe, this was better! Parental interference can be dangerous for everyone involved.) Our children are much safer in a locked building with law enforcement on the premises than walking to Mom or Dad's car and driving through the area in which the problem exists. Use your heads, parents! It's hard to give up that control of your own child, I know, but if you really think about it, you might understand. Schools give as much information as they can once the information is made available. I personally think they do a great job, and it gets better each year. Know, too, that students practice these scenarios regularly so they know exactly what to do. There's much I could find to complain about in our schools, but they've really "got this" when it comes to the safety of students and staff. Kudos to the Wicomico County Public Schools for doing their very best to keep our children safe!
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