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Scary Intruder Drill at school

DocV

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I don't know what to say.:banghead:

Text highlighted was the newspaper edit not my own emphasis. Some of the comments on the paper's web site were pretty good.

DocV



http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/today/index.ssf/2008/08/scary_intruder_drill_leaves_ph.html

A group of elementary teachers gathered for a workshop at Phillipsburg Early Childhood Learning Center got a shock Friday when a gunman burst into the facility library.

The man, yelling obscenities, squeezed off several shots, prompting those present to run for cover and pray for their lives.

They found out later that the gunman was an actor and the shots fired were blanks, both part of a "hostile intruder drill" organized by the Phillipsburg School District and police department.

"The only reason it was not the scariest day of my life was because it wasn't real," said a teacher, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.​
Acting Superintendent George Chando said teachers performed well during the drill.

The teachers had been trained how to react in such a circumstance and used what they learned effectively during the exercise, Chando said.

"It was done as a means of assessing the security readiness," he said. "I cannot give the teachers enough credit."
Town police Chief Edward Mirenda also praised teachers' performance, saying, "Teachers did a great job and reacted as they were trained."
Teachers weren't as pleased with how the drill turned out.

One said, "If I was told it was drill, I would still have followed protocol.Why did we have to think that it was the end of our lives
 

Sonora Rebel

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Joe Schmedlap... (Librarian) was unaware of any drill, drew his privately owned .454 Casulhandgun and shot the intruder (actor) dead. :what:

When informed by authorities that this had only beena drill... Schmedlap said: "So?":shock:
 

unreconstructed1

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Sonora Rebel wrote:
Joe Schmedlap... (Librarian) was unaware of any drill, drew his privately owned .454 Casulhandgun and shot the intruder (actor) dead. :what:

When informed by authorities that this had only beena drill... Schmedlap said:maybe next time you'll tell somebody"

fixed.

good thing that I hadn't been at this place, If I had been, at best the "intruder" would havebeen drugaway with serious knife wounds. at worst, serious gunshot wounds.
 

Michigander

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Schools are terrible about planning for a shooting. The only way to conter a shooting is to shoot back. Not hide behind a door which can easily be kicked in and turn the lights out. And it sure as hell won't help anything to have some moron fire blanks off.

I do wonder how many more people must die before the fallacy of gun free zones is done away with.
 

unreconstructed1

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Michigander wrote:
Schools are terrible about planning for a shooting. The only way to conter a shooting is to shoot back. Not hide behind a door which can easily be kicked in and turn the lights out. And it sure as hell won't help anything to have some moron fire blanks off.

I do wonder how many more people must die before the fallacy of gun free zones is done away with.
sadly, many.
 

N00blet45

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Town police Chief Edward Mirenda also praised teachers' performance, saying, "Teachers did a great job and reacted as they were trained."
I'm betting that their training consisted of cowering behind something while the intruder does whatever he wants. Another chapter in security theater.

 

Sonora Rebel

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I figure the only effect of that execise was to traumatize a whole bunch'a kids... and teachers against guns. What other outcome could there be? Now... if the teacheres were armed with blanks... 'could'a produced a different outcome. This is another example of enforced 'victimhood' for the sheep. I think if I'd been one of the parents... I'd sue their asses off.
 

cccook

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If this had taken place in my kid's school, I'd be stacking the furniture in the administrator's office. Will these teachers receive counseling for post traumatic stress? There was nothing simulated about that. They actually believed they would die that day. So now they are supposed to go right back to teaching as if nothing had happened to them.

This is insane.

If this exercise does not show unequivocally what sitting ducks students and teachers in Gun Free Zones are, what will? These school administrators absolutely proved this point. How can they believe otherwise.
 

Peacemaker

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Who agrees to be a Scary Intruder Actor? That seems like a quick way to get violently taken out by someone who believes that you pose imminent bodily harm to them and others!
 

Slayer of Paper

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Wow, that's just moronic. Did it not occur to these idiots that some people might just be carrying a weapon for self defense, albeit illegally? This could have turned out really, really badly.

Not to mention those poor kids are probably traumatized for the rest of their lives. Is the school board going to pay for their lifetime of therapy?
 

cccook

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Slayer of Paper wrote:
Wow, that's just moronic. Did it not occur to these idiots that some people might just be carrying a weapon for self defense, albeit illegally? This could have turned out really, really badly.

Not to mention those poor kids are probably traumatized for the rest of their lives. Is the school board going to pay for their lifetime of therapy?

I believe this was a group of teachers gathered for a workshop... no students present. At least that's how I read it.

I completely agree with you that the "actor" took his life in his own hands. Can you imagine if someone had moved to cover and opened fire to stop the threat. SURPRISE!!! We're not all victims here!
 

marshaul

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N00blet45 wrote:
Town police Chief Edward Mirenda also praised teachers' performance, saying, "Teachers did a great job and reacted as they were trained."
I'm betting that their training consisted of cowering behind something while the intruder does whatever he wants.  Another chapter in security theater.

+1
 

tito887

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just another reason why my children will not be attending government school
 

Peacemaker

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Yea, I just don't see these going well. Imagine the aftermath should one of the teachers be an ex-Marine pocket carrying a kabar or other knife. Don't bring a fake gun to a knife fight! As others have said, if a teacher were keeping a gun despite school policy.
 

FightingGlock19

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I have the feeling there's an awful lot of information the newspaper is leaving out, in regards to this drill. But, then again, newspapers don't cover much "news" anymore, just sensesationalism that seems to sell more papers these days.
 

thnycav

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I hate it when they use the term GOVERNMENT school to demonize public schools. remember folks they are our schools run by elected school boards. I do think that most need to be taken back but we can vote out the jerks that make the poor decisions that are ruining the schools. If not vote out the jerks attend the school board meetings and make them know how you feel. We do not get the government we want but what we deserve.
 

PT111

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thnycav wrote:
I hate it when they use the term GOVERNMENT school to demonize public schools. remember folks they are our schools run by elected school boards. I do think that most need to be taken back but we can vote out the jerks that make the poor decisions that are ruining the schools. If not vote out the jerks attend the school board meetings and make them know how you feel. We do not get the government we want but what we deserve.
My wife was telling me about a new fourth grade student at her school that had been home schooled for the last three years. This is the exception rather than the rule as the state required the mother to place him in public shool this year. It seems that although a 4th grader with a normal intelligence he cannot count to 100 or write his name. I have known many student do great being home-schooled but I have also known some where the parents were unable to teach them past about the fourth grade. The biggest problem with "Government" schools is most parents think of them as a baby-sitting service that doesn't need any help from the parents.
 
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