Comments on: Ernest Ward Middle Placed On Lockdown Due To ‘Suspicious’ Item

By: ewms student !!!:))

ewms student !!!:)) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:01:55 +0000

ok we went under lock down in 5ht period and stayed there for the rest of the day !! there was 2 officers there and we whent under code yellow !! every one was suppose to stay in there room and quit which means u could move much !! the staff was probbally spending time trying to figure out every thing such as wat the suspicious item was ,was it a threat, was there any students invloved or hurt/dead, and/or wat precautions needed to be taken !! there fore there wasnt many ppl or time to conduct a contectED messeage yes parents were worryyed but u have to trust tht hte princapal and/or S.R.O is takening care of every thing !! in the end every thing was fine !! we a re put on locck down for things such as suspicous item, drugs/substences,ppl,behavior,or so on !! or things such as ppl, weapons, drugs,or anything in tht area !! lock down is usully around the area were somthing is found and u saty in ur class room still and and quite ( depends on the code ) somtimes u can be put on lock down for weather !! no lock downs r not like impriosnment it is for our own safty and of COUSRE u want ur children to be saft !! there is rlly no way to contact parnets when there is no way too !! when usualy most of the staff is under some kind of precautionary measure due to the cause , if there was a way to conmtact parents im SURE the staff would !!!! thank you !!!*:)) ( remeber : lockdown is for the students own safty ) ))))))))

By: me

me — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:33:36 +0000

If you drop your child off at a public school or put him/her on a bus you are agreeing that the administration at that school is in charge of not only your child’s edudaction but also their safety and wellbeing until they get home. Mrs. Perry has often referred to the students as “her babies” and I believe she makes well thought out decisions to protect each and every one of them. I fully trust the faculty at EWMS. They are experienced educators that really care about our children.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 02:44:01 +0000

Do you realize the massive panic that connectED would have created? There would have been 300+ parents parked out front of the school!! It would have been complete chaos and would not have contributed anything to safely securing the school which housed you children. If anything it would have made the lockdown unsecure!

I am suppose it would have been something bad…how is bringing you child out of a secure room going to protect them?

By: William

William — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:45:03 +0000

>>> By not posting my previous comments confirms my suspicions about your position on free speech. It only applies to you, huh?

Every comment from your assumed named, you email and your IP address has been approved.

By: Dobey Gillis

Dobey Gillis — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:58:57 +0000

By not posting my previous comments confirms my suspicions about your position on free speech. It only applies to you, huh?

By: Concerned Century Citizen

Concerned Century Citizen — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:03:03 +0000

I have relatives attending this school. I told the grandparent to send her children somewhere else. I didn’t like the way situations before this woman became principal. I can only guess she’s gotten worse. What knot head came up with this great idea of combiing the schools? As far as Cenntury kids are concerned, I’ve seen a number of students dropping out, or relocating elsewhere.
Remember the good old days, when Century’s biggest rivals were the Flomaton Hurricanes? Now those were the days.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:27:42 +0000

I think sometimes that the police, or authorities, whatever you want to call them, stage these “lock Downs” just to scare the kids and annoy the parents. I know someone will answer with “We have to do whatever is necessary to ensure the children’s safety “, but ever since Columbine we have seen more and more of the “zero tolerance” laws turn schools into virtual prisons. Every school in Escambia County has a fence around it. These schools should be the safest places in the county. How are they constantly being under lock down? Also look at the choice of words. The term “lock down” is what you do to a prison when the inmates riot. Schools should not be prisons.

By: art

art — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:28:10 +0000

this is absolutely the most surreal, bizarre and strange news i’ve read in a long time. makes me wonder what is going on? was this some kind of drill? makes sense to me. it was totally random. and unlike nice little well planned fire drills that occur during the school day, this involved all the parents that were coming to pick up their lil precious bundles of joy thus demonstrating what would happen if indeed there was some type of threat to the children. wonder what everyone will learn from this experience, whatever it was.

By: darla

darla — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:15:21 +0000

Journalism is reporting the facts. Thanks William for giving us facts not rumor. We appreciate you.

By: William

William — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:49:37 +0000

>>PLEASE think about the panic you are causing by posting the “Breaking New” with VAGUE information. Maybe you and Mrs. Perry need to determine what and when issues should be posted.

I’ll respond this one with a story. I covered a fire safety drill at Flomaton Elementary School once. The drill involved fire trucks arriving with lights and sirens for realism.

Literally within minutes my Blackberry email began to fill up as I stood there watching the fire drill. The messages were about a shooting at Flomaton Elementary. Then emails began to arrive about a shooting at Bratt Elementary, which was miles away peacefully not involved in the drill.

The rumor mill is an ugly animal and that day serves as a perfect example of why we will cover a lockdown in “real time” at our schools. Vague information that says everyone is OK is far better than us doing nothing.

We were able to update parents that school would be dismissed on time, to post “live” as the gates were being unlocked for the parent pickup line, and even let parents know that buses had left the campus just a few minutes late. All with with the purpose of providing fact within the rumors that were flying, and serving to reassure parents.

I wish I could share the “rumor mill” emails and Facebook messages that I received yesterday. Imaginations can run wild in most horrible way. We try to be the calm in that storm.

–William