What safety measures are in place at your school and other places (e.g., church)?

[justlearning]

Our school: everyone has to be buzzed in to enter any part of the building, two armed security officers on campus at all times (who are very visible, walking around)

Our church: an armed police officer standing at the front entrance of the church at every service (with his squad car parked right in front), other doors are kept locked at all services, retired police officers (congregation members) who carry concealed weapons

These safety measures have been implemented over the past two years. Before that, you never saw a security person and could walk into any door you wanted.

[kristac]

Today our speech therapist (provided by the school district- drive in services at a local school- separate building) had the door locked (used to be propped open) and we had to ring the bell and wait for someone to open the door. Good in theory I guess but the person who opens the door is generally a parent waiting for their kid to finish their session so they likely don't know who is supposed to be there vs not. Not sure we are any safer this week then we were last week.

DS3's preschool's doors are locked and require you to ring the bell and be let in. More secure since the staff know everyone (small school). It has always been this way though- nothing new being implemented that I know of and no communication from the school referencing CT.

DS1 and DS2's elementary has sent out 2 mass calls stating that safety is their number one priority. The boys have not noticed any changes though and I have not been to the school yet (they ride the bus). Also got an email from DS1's teacher who was absent monday telling us that she loves her students- will do anything to protect them and could not wait to hug them all on tuesday.

[indigo99]

DS's preschool (MDO) is on the bottom floor in a church. You need a key fob (or to be buzzed in) to enter the door to the wing. The dumb part is that you can walk into any other door of the church and down a staircase to get into the preschool wing. I guess they think they'll notice if anyone comes down those stairs, but I'm not really comfortable with it.

[crl]

You might be interested in this thread.

http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=449093

Catherine

[justlearning]

You might be interested in this thread.

http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=449093

Catherine

Thanks for this link! I obviously had missed seeing that thread.

[crl]

Thanks for this link! I obviously had missed seeing that thread.

Sure. I figured.

Catherine

[maestramommy]

Wow. Our church is not secured at all. I mean, it's locked when no one is there, but that's it as far as I know. Anyone who has the key code can give it to another member. The only time there was security was when President Ford visited in the 70s.

[KDsMommy]

Also got an email from DS1's teacher who was absent monday telling us that she loves her students- will do anything to protect them and could not wait to hug them all on tuesday.

This made me tear up. :love5:

[DietCokeLover]

Our church received a bomb threat about a month ago. It's a very large church, with 8,000 members. The church was evacuated, with parents with children leaving the sanctuary first to get their children. It was extremely orderly, and eerily calm and quiet. We regularly have deputies on site to help with traffic and local police responded onsite immediately.

Scary, but it showed me how prepared our church was for something like this.

(Oh, and there was no bomb).

[khalloc]

Wow. Our schools dont have much security.

My son's daycare is small, in a house-like setting, but its a center. About 25 kids I think. Yesterday the daycare owner/director said they will start locking the doors from 8:30-4:30. You will have to ring the door bell and whoever is in the infant room at the front of the building would probably be the one to let you in.

My DD's elementary school is 1-story and to me, it looks like every single classroom has its own door to the outside. I am 99.9% sure that these are locked all the time. But it seems like at least if something awful happened every room would have a way to run outside. The front door is unlocked all day. You are supposed to walk in and go to the office (very first door when you walk in) to sign-in and get a visitors pass. But really its just signing your name and grabbing a sticker. I very rarely get asked a question about why I am there.

Once in a while they will have a police car in the parking lot.

[mikeys_mom]

My kids are in a Jewish Day School and it is not unusual for there to be terror or bomb threats to various community organizations, particularly schools and synagogues. Our school has a private security guard at the door. To get in you need either a parent ID issued by the school or you need to sign in to get a visitor's pass, then go check in at the office. During lunch and recess, when the kids are playing outside, the guard walks around the perimeter of the building and playground making sure there is nothing unusual. When he isn't at the front door, you need to buzz to get in and then report to the office. The doors are not bulletproof, so if someone really wanted to break in, they could. All doors are locked at all times.

The guard is not typically armed but if there is a threat then an armed guard is assigned that day. For example, when there were increased tensions in Israel last month, we had an armed guard for a few weeks.

The large synagogues around here all have private securty guards as well. Doors to facilities are typically locked after 9am when most prayer services and preschool drop-offs are done. To get in, you need to buzz in through the office downstairs. On Saturdays, when
there are many more people coming to the building, the front doors are open and there is a security guard at the main doors checking people's bags. I don't know if the guard is armed or not.

Also, on the High Holidays, all synagogues have security guards and you can't get in if you don't have a ticket. Police also increase surveillance of community buildings during the High Holidays or anytime the community has received possible threats that are deemed credible.