Drill/shelter in place at GM School 6/6
Does anyone have any information on what happened today to casue the schools to go into a drill to shelter in place. The schools are holding all information from students and parents.
Alyssa1 If it was a drill, as you say, there’s no information to release. A drill is a practice.
Music gal Did not sound like a drill. There has been an obvious police presence at the schools each day this week plus a police officer present all morning last Friday at Liberty’s Field day.
No clue what might be behind all of this but it sounds less and less like a drill every day.
Towngirl The new norm. There have been police present every day at the Warren Hills schools and they have monthly drills.
CraftBeerBob Drills are often planned days in advance with any law enforcement agencies that might be participating so no surprise that there was a police presence before hand.... I wouldn’t read into it too much! As other poster said, this is the new norm! The school I work in sometimes involves multiple agencies in a big drill
Jill B
Dodgebaal Some of the drills i do for work at schools are planned with us getting a heads up well in advance and some others we get a phone call not even 5 minutes before and told hey start heading over.
CJ. This was not a drill. Announcement was made while I was in the building...”shelter in place, this is not a drill.”
LivingLifeLovingLife So many rumors are going around, the district needs to tell the community what caused this.
Mommyof3 I agree! I'm very unsettled about sending my child to school not having any information except that there was some kind of threat.
concerned parent A shelter in place can be for something as simple as a bear in a neighboring yard. Now that there are code names everyone gets so worked up and understandably so. It's sad to see its come to this.
Betty I was there at the school. There was no bear. Kids were told not to move at the middle school and some got on the bus without having a chance to get backpacks. Police presence at the 4&5th grade band concert tonight was excessive. No bear would warrant that type of police presence.
We need to be informed when things like this occur. They can alert us when there is a bake sale for the PTO, then they should alert us our kids were locked in a classroom for 3 hours due to a possible threat.
We were not locked in the classroom for 3 hours. It started at 1:10.
The students were told to go to their lockers on their way out, the busses were dismissed 2-3 at a time and the students were to go to their lockers and then to their bus. No one should have gone home without their backpacks.
Njchia Geez, In another age, when I was in grade school, we had drills pretty often. Had to hide under our desks, and not to get up if we saw a big flash followed by a loud explosion. These were drills in case of Nuclear War. We took it in stride. Our parents didn't get bent out of shape. It was the norm at that time and because our parents didn't make it a big deal, the kids didn't either. It was just a part of our day. Now there are different types of drills. Its a shame any drills would be needed, but these times will pass, as ours passed.
Boobalaa I agree with the other poster. I got 5 or 6 texts and voicemails the other day when the school lost power. If an announcement was made on the “PA” to “shelter” and “this is not a drill” we should have received communication.
Boobalaa. Exactly. Those were drills. Did you ever have a nuclear bomb drill when an announcement was made that it was not a drill?
Concernedparent We were not given any details.
The announcement was shelter in place, shelter in place, shelter in place. Same as it always is, drill or not. If it’s a lockdown it’s repeated 3 times. Same with evacuation. There were further messages following, one a little later telling everyone the students prodedure for switching classes when the block ended. And then the one announcing what the dismissal procedure would be.
I do not recall at anytime an announcement saying this is not a drill, even drills are treated as not being drills, that way they are always treated seriously.
The schools do such drills because they SHOULD do such drills. If they don't do such drills, and something bad happens, then the public will complain, "Why didn't you have a detailed plan and practice drills, in case this ever happens?!" It's that simple.
There are reasons to have "fire drills," where the students are brought out of the building(s). This would be done in case of a real fire, a gas leak inside the building, some kind of caustic chemical spill inside the building, a possible chemical-weapon attack, or many other reasons.
Likewise, there are just as many reasons to have "shelter-in-place drills," where students are contained in rooms within the building(s). This might be done in the event of a possible school shooter, a terrorist attack in the area, a gas leak outside the building, a train derailment causing a major caustic-chemical spill, or many other reasons.
Whether or not it makes sense to notify the public about such drills, before or after they occur, is not a simple decision. Yes, parents, naturally, want to know--as do the students, faculty, etc. But if you always notify people about such drills, and then something happens to issue a "shelter-in-place" call that is NOT a drill, and people aren't notified, then some will immediately panic, even if there is really nothing to panic about. A good example of that would be the police receiving an anonymous, but credible-sounding tip that someone is going to attack the school. The police issue the order for the school to shelter in place, while they surround the school and conduct an investigation. The one thing they DON'T need, at that point, is hundreds of parents racing to the school and demanding to see their children--it could end up putting everyone in even more danger. And if there is no actual attack, then all of that panic and chaos is for nothing but could still end up getting people hurt. And ultimately, it could end up hindering an investigation, so that a potential attacker gets away and lives free to attack another day.
Citizens have many opportunities to address such concerns to the school authorities, as well as various government agencies and officials. But keep in mind that YOU wanting a public announcement made is not necessarily the best, safest decision for students, faculty, and/or the public. Keep all of that in mind, and try to understand all sides of the issues, before you complain about how and why things are being done.
JerseyWolf Geeeeeez, call the police department ...or....drive over there and ask them directly ...
steven Steven- there’s nothing wrong with discussing to see if anyone knows what went on. We only found out about this as our kids got home and school isn’t even open yet.
MB 
Whip 
Tracy Thanks for your post, Jersey Wolf. As a parent it put things in perspective and gave me that wake-up slap I needed. I just read “this is not a drill” and got worried. Of course, getting info from a forum full of anonymous posters to form my opinion is probably not the best approach.
If I added to the hysteria I apologize.
The school (also a middle school) where I teach has 2 drills PER month - NJ state law. We have had "shelter-in-place" situations and they have been because a resident in the nearby area is doing something crazy; a bank was robbed in the area and robber is on the loose; a bear was in the woods behind the school.
IF it is close to dismissal....we have had a "controlled" dismissal...where 2-3 busses pull up and those kids get dismissed, etc. Walkers and parents p/u were last with POLICE presence due to S-in-P. I'm not sure why district didn't alert parents after the situation.
We just had a extreme weather drill - in hallways away from windows - the other day. Your children may not share that kind of drill with you.
SS2cats I had to look up p/u in the above post. For those who don't know what that means, and don't have time to look it up, it means " pick up".... My grand kids aren't here or I would have asked one if them. ; )
Spring fever This was not a drill! But school is not at liberty to discuss. Ridiculous!
CONCERNED SCHOOL PAR If a threat comes through, they should be notifying the community. If the threat is unfounded, they still owe it to the parents/residence to let them know.
Blame Mango. Principals can't send anything out about this without his approval on this matter. He knows what happened but not letting anyone know.
Hockey mom Mango is a dick. Damn the Hackettstown board members who gave that guy a job. They certainly didn't do their job. In fact most of those members are long gone, cowards and thieves.
Cecil In our school, a "shelter in place" simply means keep the children in the room - you don't even have to lock the door. An example of a reason to have a shelter in place might be an ambulance was called for a student or an adult who needs to be taken to the hospital - broken leg, seizure, etc. It is very different from a lock down.
subaru Mommyof3-Exactly what I was thinking. I don’t need details. I just need to know what you did with my kid. Say there was a threat, it was unfounded and everyone is safe. I send them there to learn. Anything outside of that is for me to parent.
I understand that sometimes for security reasons they can’t say anything right away BUT they need to send something out to the parents in a timely manor. These are middle school kids, most know about the craziness that goes on in the world. As parents, it is our job to discuss and reassure them. If there was a concern at home that the school found out about, would the school turn their head? Of course not. So with that being said if it was a medical condition that lasted for hours, or a child having a tough day and they needed extra help than just say something basic but don’t ignore the fact that something transpired. My children go to a neighboring district, in elementary,middle, and hs. We always get an email that they had a fire drill, etc. If there happened to be a shelter in place or lockdown..by the time we go to bed we are rest assured that our children are safe
Dima The police department did release information today and based on the incident, it is understandable why they withheld for as long as they did.
I just saw this on the Independence Twp. Police Facebook page:
"Press Release: School Lock down
On Tuesday 6/5 a parent of a student in our school district recieved a message through a third party messaging app called WhatsApp. The messages were threatening in nature. A ransom of $1000 was requested and threats to the student and the school were made. Officers were made aware of the situation by school officials after the parents called the school with their concerns.
Once informed by the school officers provided security and secured the parents cell phone. Working with the Warren County Prosecutors Office we were able to trace the number sending the messages. The number sending the messages was traced back to Latin America.
A photo of the student was sent to the parents along with the threats. The student was never in danger and was in school at the time. The photo and parents phone number were both taken from their public facebook page.
It was determined that the threat was a scam and not credible, but all precautions were taken until that determination was made. Officers provided security at the schools and the Superintendent initiated a shelter in place.
These scams can be very vicious in nature and trigger a very emotional response from parents and students alike. If you are contacted by a foreign number with threatening messages contact the police immediately. Keep your information secure i.e making your social media accounts private. If your account is public all of your pictures, phone numbers and emails are accessible to whoever wants them."
SueR It was all fake news to justify Mango and our boards decision to approving the shared services agreement for our new security officer (which I find to be a waste of taxpayer money).
hammer Sorry a bit off topic..but I kept seeing something about the middle schoolers and getting on buses? What busses can they take? I thought all kids walk or get driven by parents?
Anyone clarify?
Lina 
Boo 
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