Renfroe Put On Lockdown This Afternoon Because of “Disruptive Adult”
Decatur Metro | October 7, 2009UPDATE: Here’s a report from Asst. Superintendent Thomas van Soelen…
A person entered the building and after repeated requests to leave, would not. Police needed to help the person leave the premises. Students were safely dismissed at that time.
Laura forwards this note from the CSD website…
On Wednesday afternoon, Renfroe Middle School was placed on temporary lockdown while police addressed a disruptive adult on the school premises who subsequently required medical attention for an injured foot. At no time during the lockdown were students in any danger. Students were dismissed at 4:00 p.m.
Um…OK. I’m trying to get more detail from CSD and DPD.
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IMMA LET YOU FINISH YOUR SCHOOL DAY, KIDS, BUT I JUST HAVE TO SAY, PAIDEIA IS THE BEST SCHOOL EVER.
Uh…what does a plug for Paideia have to do with a disruptive adult at Renfroe?
Especially since they’re SHOUTING.
He’s channeling Kanye West. See: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1621389/20090913/west_kanye.jhtml
funny.
I laughed out loud.
Glad somebody got it.
Stupid me…I should have gotten the joke! Oh well, maybe next time.
P.S. Good one, Lump.
A student there said it was some woman with a gun and that they had to stay under their desks for 45 minutes (of course, I kept it in mind that this was coming from an 11-year-old)
I heard no weapons and that was from an adult. Other details I heard might embarrass the disruptive adult’s family members whose fault this is not, so I won’t spread those rumors. Most importantly, my child’s account of how their teacher made the ~40 minute experience safe, unscarey, and almost warm and cozy, complete with snack, makes me realize what wonderful teachers we have at Renfroe in such an excellent school.
Re Paideia: Also an excellent school but evidently also not without its hazards given the recent fire.
Is “IMMA” some kind of short-hand for something?
Try substituting “I am going to” for IMMA.
Jeez, Snowflake, you are so unhip.
Unhip, gullible, and downright embarrassing to my children. Getting worse since I don’t let our TV go on during the school week. I’m going to have to follow that link before it becomes evident that I don’t know who Kanye West is.
You should have said “Imma have to follow that link”.
IMMA have to stop laughing and get a life!
Again, this is a play off the Kanye West debacle from a few weeks ago.
First of all, nothing beats Decatur and Renfroe! I spoke with a child who attend Renfroe and who knows the child of the parent who went ‘crazy.’ They stated that the parent has complained repeatly about the school and how they did not approve of their child’s schedule. The parent was told to leave and refused, started threatening, kicking and screaming. The child of the parent saw it all. I feel so sorry for this child.
My attic is currently on lockdown due to a disruptive squirrel.
OK, kudos to the school for making this a non-terrifying event for the kids, and I appreciate that the school was just trying to protect the students, but am I only one who thinks a 40-minute lockdown for what was apparently a parent having a tantrum a little overkill?
Until you know what that parent is or was capable of and the situation is under control, then the lockdown was the appropriate response.
Agree, I’d rather that CSD err on the side of inconvenience for me and my child than ever underestimate what turns out to be real threat. It’s like the appendectomies–if a good surgeon isn’t occasionally taking out healthy appendices, then their index of suspicion isn’t low enough and a patient will die of unrecognized appendicitis.
They just should have called in Jerry Springer instead.
I was waiting outside the building to pick up my son. We had no idea what was going on, and didn’t know whether we were in danger, too. I think what the officials did was appropriate, but I don’t understand why they have to be so secretive about it. Many of us there saw the woman being arrested and put into a police car.
Nobody was put under their desks, either.
Actually some were under desks. I talked today to a 6th grade boy whose class was under their desks. I think protocols depend on what classroom you’re in–one with a closet, one on the first floor, near windows, etc. I think some kids were more scared than others depending on what the protocol was in their room and whether or not the teacher or principal had to be forceful about getting the kids to follow protocol and be quiet. My child was in a closet and pretty darn content. I still owe that teacher for the snacks and I plan to replace them and more.
The more I hear about the incident, true or not, the more I think that it was probably always under control but had the potential to go another way if not dealt with effectively. Hopefully counselors will follow up with the kids in an appropriate way. They may have started already; my child got bored of talking to me before I could find out.
When I read about people thinking the lockdown was really not needed, it reminds me of the time several Miami Beach Residents trued to sue the National Hurricane Service for calling for a mandatory evacuation due to the threat of an approaching hurricane. When the hurricane turned north and didn’t hit Miami Beach, the residents were upset for having to evacuate needlessly.
Bottom line, I always rather hear people complaining about being too safe than not being safe enough.
As an aside, the judge threw the case out of court and chided the complaintants for wasting the court’s time.
I will readily admit that I have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight on this. It’s also very likely we don’t have all the information – perhaps the disruptive person claimed to have a weapon – in which case I would certainly agree a lockdown was appropriate.
However, I don’t believe that “too safe” has no negative effects on kids. As Snowflake points out, this event might result in a need for counseling. I, for one, don’t want my kid to feel like every out-of-the-ordinary event could result in something terrible. Obviously there’s a lot of gray area in these things, and I totally understand why the school errs on the side of safety. At the same time, I think we should nonetheless push back against a culture of unreasonable fear.
Imagine, for example, if the National Hurricane Service evacuated Miami beach every time it threatened to rain. I don’t think a judge would be so quick to chide in that case.