Public School “lockdown”: lies about intruder as ruse for drug search
The story is too wild to be made up: a Connecticut High School fakes a Columbine-style crisis in order to lock students in classrooms while police dogs search for drugs. The Hartford Courant reports,
At Wolcott High School one morning this week, an urgent announcement crackled over the intercom: a threatening intruder was in the building and students were told to immediately take refuge in classrooms.
Doors were locked and police, with dogs, moved in. Students stayed huddled in classrooms where they were told to stay away from the windows.
But what sounded like a frightening situation was just a search for narcotics. Drug-sniffing dogs combed the school while students stayed in locked classrooms, believing that an attacker was roaming the halls.
Superintendent of Schools Joseph McCary says this is part of “providing a safe and secure nurturing environment.”
“We said there was a lockdown with an intruder inside. Doors are locked, shades are drawn and the lights are turned off and students are told to move to a corner of the room. . . . After 10 minutes we say this is a drill and at that point we started a search for drugs,” McCary said.
Blogger and pundit Karen De Coster blasts: “At the same time as jack-booted, armored men and women in black clown costumes are parading through school hallways like the great gods of moral righteousness, the federal government has thrown millions of dollars at resources for fighting violence/bullying in the public schools.”