Parents of children in the Oakland K-8 school system received a reverse 911 call alerting them that a lock-down had taken place in all the schools.
The lock-down, which lasted for approximately 25 minutes, was in response to an “incident in the community”.
It is believed the incident was an armed robbery which occurred at a local bank, and reports state that at a man was arrested in connection with the robbery by Waldwick police.
The local lock-down was apparently a precautionary measure meant to assure the safety of students in case any suspects sought refuge in the schools. At the same time as the Oakland lockdown, schools in Lafayette, LA were also in lockdown for apparently a similar reason – a local bank robbery
Lock-down drills are often as common as fire drills to a previous generation of American students. In Oakland, children participate in the following preparedness activities throughout the school year: Tornado Drill, Non-Fire Evacuation, Active Shooter, Lockdown, and Bomb Threat in addition to regular Fire Drills.
While drills may be innocuous events for today’s children, actual lockdowns can inspire anxiety in some children.
If you need to discuss the recent lock-down incident in Oakland with your child, you may want to familiarize yourself with some standard procedures outlined in this article.
Oakland schools have run scheduled lockdown drills for years; and, in light of the Sandy Hook Massacre, the state of NJ has begun surprise inspections to schools to assure proper lock-down plans run smoothly.
For those Oakland parents with students who participated in the local lock-down, giving the children a hearty hug and congratulations for a job well done is probably in order.
Links:
http://childparenting.about.com/od/healthsafety/g/What-Is-A-School-Lockdown-Drill.htm
http://childparenting.about.com/od/healthsafety/a/how_to_handle_anxiety_in_children.htm