Are kids not worth a few thousand dollars???

[Richard Crowe]

Scenario:

You live in an area called "Tornado Alley" and your town has already experienced two devastating F-4 and F-5 tornados over the last 12-years.

Would you not expect your schoold to be equipped with tornado safe shelters or non-flooding basements?

Or... are not the lives of Oklahoma kids worth the few thousand dollars it would take to protect them?

Along the same lines...  A non-intrudable security door would have protected the kids at the Sandy Hook, Conn., Elementary School.  I don't notice any grass roots campaigns to install that type of security in the schools in my local area - how about yours?

IMO, schools have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the children whom we give over into their custody.  I frankly think that the poor families who lost kids in Moore would have a solid civil action case against the school, school board, and virtually any other bureaucracy which has to do with school because of the disgraceful lack of security against tornados...

And... if (or should I say when) the next Sandy Hook happens; if that school doesn't have a proper security door in place; there should be criminal charges brought!

 

 

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Of course not, Traci, but to those of us living in other parts of the country, it seems illogical to live in Tornado Alley and NOT have a storm cellar.  And it seems criminal that public buildings don't have storm protected areas. 

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

What about parents that have homes without basements or non-intrudable security doors?  Should they get their kids taken away from them because of being irresponsible parents?

[Donna K & Quincy]

I too cannot understand why a school not have a shelter in such a high risk area. Why don't these towns have safe shelters in strategic locations. It is so heartbreaking and sad that so many more lives could have been saved.

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

I was wondering the same thing Richard.  I watched an interview with one of the city officals and they said after the 1999 Tornado that FEMA offered discounts to all residents to build underground shelters, but most could not afford it.  When you live in Tornado Alley they should be more then offered "just" a discount and it should be mandatory for ALL schools.  What is wrong with this picutre!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Richard, I am with you.  I was shocked to find out that schools in tornado areas don't have storm-safe areas. The schools in my area are gated and those gates are usually locked, however my school was so old that the office area was outside of the gated area with no access except through that gate. So during school hours that gate was unlocked.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I have been so upset thinking about what I would do if Charlotte had been in there.  What would I do now when we get warnings (we are on the 40-corridor and seem to get lots of tornado warnings these days)?  My office and home has a basement, but what about where Charlotte is? Definitely asking her preschool director about safety precautions.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was wondering about the Moore schools, too. The 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore F5 tornado was the deadliest in US history to that point, with the highest wind speeds ever recorded, and they have had subsequent deadly tornados in the town since. I did read one article that said it was believed the kids were safer in the school yesterday than they would have been at home or elsewhere. I don't know if that's true, but it just seems to me that there needs to be some other types of shelters and/or systems in place. Very very sad and scary.

[Carol and Banjo]

I have always been under the impression that schools in that area of the country must be the safest place to be during the threat of tornadoes.   It saddens me to think that "safe" rooms were not available for those children....how much could that cost a school district???     So sad to think of those frightened children......

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

There has definitely been a very noticeable impact in security in our local schools, maybe because we are so close to Sandy Hook.  Now when I go to pick up my grand kids I have to buzz at the front door, stand in front of the camera and say whey I'm there before they will unlock the door.  Then I have to go straight to the office and show ID before I can move around the school.  They even do this for assemblies when there are lots of grand parents and parents arriving...it takes quite awhile to get through the process, but nobody is complaining.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Sadly you can't prevent all tragedies. When I went to school there was no security. Now around here you have to be buzzed in and some districts have armed guards. Where does it end? What has changed ? I also remember just walking onto a plane with no security. I hate all this but I see the necessity. Even the natural disasters seem to have ramped up like Hurricane Sandy around here. Maybe we just weren't as well/immediately informed but life seems scarier. Maybe it's also a product of getting older and realizing how vulnerable we are.