Wednesday, January 9, 2013

(Sad) Sign of The Times

Crocker Farm School Staff participated in a security drill this afternoon

Amherst schools have continued to tweak security protocols in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. But nothing radical, as they are not exactly reinventing the wheel.

According to ARPS Superintendent Maria Geryk, "We are fortunate that we have spent lots of time creating our safety plans over the years, so that we are not making major adjustments at the moment. We are just really tightening up some of our procedures."

She continues, "I expect that there will be additional changes over time as we spend more time updating our plans."

Today's exercise was a "school level drill" vs the more expansive district level "table top drills" orchestrated in conjunction with Amherst police and fire departments. Superintendent Geryk reports "Things are going well with these brief drills."

According to a pundit the Newtown massacre will do for school security what 9/11 did for airport security.  True enough.

Just as a gorgeous September morning with perfect temperatures under a deep blue cloudless sky, can never again be innocently enjoyed quite the same; neither will the sights and sounds of a room full of happy, chatty, first graders.


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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2013 at 7:11 AM

    Thank you Larry. There is an interview in the Springfield Republican today-I told Diane Lederman the same thing-that December 14th has changed the way we go to school.

    Jean Fay

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  2. Larry KelleyJanuary 10, 2013 at 7:49 AM

    Hey Jean,
    Growing up in Amherst my Mom never locked the front door at night. Those days, too, are long gone.

    Nice interview. I'll link to it if the Republican gets it up in digital form.

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  3. Walter GraffJanuary 11, 2013 at 6:56 AM

    Sort of the equivalent of making everyone wear a lighting arresters on their heads because last year 28 people died from getting struck by lightning. Odds are you'd win the lottery before such a thing could happen to your child or their school.

    And all the security in the world can not prevent what happened in Newton. They had the same security as Amherst.

    School shooting have been happening on occasion in this country since the Pontiac Rebellion school massacre in 1764 and very simply and unfortunately will occur infrequently in the future too no matter what we do.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2013 at 7:33 AM

    Larry, my mom used to call all 7 of us home from playing in the neighborhood with a cowbell. Newtown was a wonderful place to grow up.

    Jean

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  5. Larry KelleyJanuary 11, 2013 at 8:41 AM

    I'm afraid Mr. Wolfe was right, "You can't go home again."

    ReplyDelete