School Shooting Need Advice

[AZ Disney]

My DS4 will be starting preschool in January at a local Christian Church pre-school. We have been so excited about this until today when we learned there was a fatal shooting. Apparently, a husband showed up this morning and shot his wife and kidnnapped the kids. They had not been signed into school yet, and no children at the school were hurt. The wife died, children are now safe, and husband is on the run.

Would you still take your child to this school if he had never attended yet?

Thanks in advance.

[offwego]

It doesn't sound as if it's releated to anything the school had control of. (at least with what you've said here)

I'd feel very differently if it was an employee/former employee then if it's just a person who's family attended as that's not really within their control.

But it's your call of course.

[kakn7294]

Those poor babies! The fact that the father is on the run is what is really bothering me. I wouldn't want to send my little one until I knew he wasn't coming back regardless of whether his kids are still attending there or not - if he did something like this once and now he knows he's in trouble and on the run, who knows what his mind is like and what he could do next. I would probably still be hesitant if he's caught, but after some heavy-duty reflecting, I would probably still send my child, although not necessarily feel comfortable about it. It's a tough call for you - let us know what you decide. Best of luck to you!

[Lizzy]

Talk with the school and find out what security measures they have in place, and what they are doing diffrently since the incident. Find out what state of mind the teachers are in also. Their anxiety could also affect yourr child even if your children were not exposed to the ordeal.


This is unfortunate, it doesn't sound like the school had any control over the situation but I would definatly hold off until you are sure your children will be safe while under their care.

[btharvey]

My two cents, for whatever it's worth ...

We'd all probably be aghast at who has sat next to us in church, at work, at the pta meetings and what they've done in their lives. Sad to say, we know nothing about folks when it's not apparent. You can't tell a murderer by looks alone, nor can you tell a family is in crisis until you have been inside the family yourself, and sometimes even then, they cover it up and you can't tell.

Because this was the father who did this and affected only his own family (the location was probably only because he knew where they'd all be at a certain time) and had absolutely nothing to do that we can tell with the preschool, nor was there anything the preschool could have done short of hiring armed guards and frisking everyone who comes on property ... I wouldn't be afraid to drop off my little ones there. Anywhere, yes ... but not there in particular.

[ckaranassos]

I co direct and teach at our local church pre school and all though this event is terrible I agree it is not actually school related. Definetly speak with the school about their security measures (at our school all doors are locked and someone is always in the office which is centrally located, all our individual classrooms have interior locks if needed, and our local police department acutally tries to stop by several times a week to familiarize the young children to the concept of police and they being good, unfortunately a father more than likely is someone that was welcome into the school) I am sure they will probably incorporate changes now. If this school is some where you would like your children to go, don't give up just yet. It is very sad that these events have to influence our children's lives at all. Good luck and prayers to your community!

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I can understand your hesitation, but from what you've told us, I don't think that this was school-related, and could have happened anywhere.

As horrible as it is, many places are safer after a tragedy then before, as policies and procedures are updated and staff are re-trained.

I would talk to the school about your concerns, but I'm betting that you have no reason not to send your son to the school.

Good Luck, it is a hard decision, we all want to keep our kids safe.

[Marker]

No one should ever have to deal with that sort of garbage. Unfortunately, that sort of "real life" can happen anywhere.

While you might ask to see what security procedures that school follows, I would be extremely surprised if there was anything they truloy could have done to prevent this. If someone is intent on doing something like this, they'll find a way. Actually, if anything, this school may actually intensify safeguards in response to this. This school may as a result become better prepared.

While I would encourage taking all reasonable safeguards, I would resist showing fear. Your kids, and those around will quickly pick up on that and in turn become afraid of the world too, and that sort of fear can become a problem as well.

Also, regardless of all the safeguards that schools can put into place, quite often the biggest safeguard is people. Parent participation is a huge benefit in many ways, building security could just be one of those.

But that's just my opinion.

[AZ Disney]

Thank you all for your responses. I too agree that this could happen anywhere. I think we've decided at this point to not change anything. I will be contacting the school, and learning about their security procedures etc. This just seems all too common these days, but it really threw me for a loop when it actually happened at a place where my son will be.

This is a little excerpt from the paper today:
The church's daycare, which has 75 children, was placed on lockdown as soon as staff heard gunshots in the parking lot, said Nathan LaFon, the daycare's principal and children's pastor.

“As soon as the thing took place, we had our emergency response system kick in and all of our classes went into lockdown,” LaFon said. “I personally checked all of them and made sure all the doors were sealed.”