I know the scarey feeling, and Im thinking about private school for my child, and I know it could happen their too, but like you said a private school is safer.

Unfortunately, while going to a private school is probably safer then a large inner city school, it is not a guarantee against violence. I went to a private boarding school for two years in high school and we had a bomb threat while I was there. It turned out to be a phony call from the friend of a girl who had a drug test that morning, but it still shook us up. We were evacuated from campus in our pajamas and spent the day wondering if anything was going to blow up while we were gone.

You are so right, I agree with you.

Yes, I heard it on the news to about my son's school. and I do think that the school should let parents know.

No one was hurt, but it is very scarey to come up to the school and parents running in to get their kids, and police is all around. Thank GOD the school got my daughter and her class out, and kept her on the football feild away from the school. my daughter told me she did not know about the incedent when her class went back into the school and she change classes she heard other students talking about it and she weht into the bathroom and call me.

I am glad to hear it.

Violence can happen anywhere, at anytime. We all have o be careful, keep our eyes open, and rehearse a few "what if" situations with ourselves and children.

We can't live in constant fear of the unknow; or we would never get out of bed.

To recap, nothing happened that day--there was an increased police and school police presence. SoCalGal, I'm pretty plugged in to district 2. I know there are issues occasionally at schools closer to my home (and even in District 1), but not at his school.

It was a little unsettling to send him to school that day, and I kept the news on, but nothing happened.

He has roughly two months of school left, much of which consists of the senior celebrations: Grad Nite at Disneyland, the CSF Honors Tea, the magnet seniors dinner. I'm not sure LAUSD has a policy to test-out (they won't even allow his college courses to be counted toward his high school work).

I'll keep my ears open, and even talk to my city council person and see if she's heard anything. But I honestly think the incident has passed.

MagnetMom:

Did I miss something here? Has the situation escalated? I read back though the post, but am having trouble following.

Can your son test out of his last few weeks of school?

MagnetMom: Except.... except for some troubling incidents lately in your district in other parts of town...

I don't mean to worry you and I fully respect your son but we both know that this particular district doesn't notify parents unless the rumors have some substance to them. So, in your shoes, I'm not sure I would allow my to attend school under these circumstances.

If I remember correctly, this may have made the evening news recently.

Wow, that must have been scary for you both. Was anyone injured?

If I decide to let my child go back to this school I would sit my child down and talk to him, I would tell him to be alert at all times, and very careful, not to get slack and think it can't happen. If he hear or see anything abnormal, to tell a staff person. If he hear gun shots run and get out if he can, If he can't run hide behide anything, and the last thing I would tell him to play dead untill a staff person tell him everything is ok. This happen at my daughter high school this year. Thank GOD my daughter called me on her cell phone and I went to her school and found out other parents was their to pick up their children too. I kept my daughter out the next day untill everthing was ok. Schools have Insurance you can put on your child.I pay for it every year. and I think the security is much better at schools because they don't won't nothing to happen.

Our taxing system should not be as it is, putting schools at the bottom of the list. Our children are literally our future and neglecting that fact is wrong. When bad things are allowed to happen, the events stay with them their entire lives, causing a terrible ripple effect to their own children. Our taxes, as much as we pay, should be put into kids' futures, not substantiating convicts with work-out rooms, movies and hobby kits.

We plain and simply need to make these things stop, instead of trying to fix them after-the-fact. Misconduct needs to have more serious repercussions. The reality is this situation shouldn't even be an "I can or can't afford" to take precautions. It should not be happening at all. We shouldn't have to question whether we can afford to educate our children, or work with peace of mind that our families will be together at day's end.

From the school's point of view, they probably had only two options; and they did choose the best. Not everyone can consider private school, is true. That's why I believe that in stating, "If you're okay with it, that's what counts," is about all that can be said.

The most unfortunate truth is that for one "bad or corrupt" person, literally thousands of peoples lives are thrown into a washer. These are circumstances that never even crossed the board when I was a kid, and now, as stated earlier by someone, it's becoming commonplace.

Instead of finding ways to resolve issues as they happen, we should try to find a way to deter it before it does. Our laws against child predators (albeit sexual, negligible or violent) need to be much, much more stringent, so that the predators don't have a choice to behave or not. It is my opinion they have already voted by acting as they have-- they have chosen not to be one of societal values.

Well...I have 2 girls and live in Hawai'i private school could cost me about 40,000 a year. It's not that I am not concerned about my daughters safety, but its reality that sometimes it just isn't affordable for all students.

If he weren't two months from graduation, I agree, Cinderella. This was the first time this happened here, and honestly, I think the school handled it pretty well by informing the parents and providing for extra security.

If you're "okay" with it, that's what counts. I believe I would be looking at alternatives and be considering private school.

This happened at my daughters HS this fall. She was already there because of an early morning class and she got panicked. The school was already handling things and but were about to put the students on lock down. I picked her up ... but got all the information I could and felt confident in the measures the school had taken and sent her the next school day. It is a scary thing.

I think this is happening everywhere. I'd be glad that the rumors made it to the administration & that they had an increased police presence. There are lots of other things that we as parents never hear about that happen each day on campus.

But to answer your question, this has happened in our used-to-be-rural school district. My kids have actually told me the rumors as I was taking them to school. I've immediately gotten on the phone to the school & let them know.

A lesson should be taught about making fun of people who take caution vs. people who throw caution to the wind. Making fun is not cool.
WHAT IF the shootings had taken place. Would the children who stayed home make fun of the kids who went? I think not. They'd mourn.

I'd keep my child at home - Plain and simple. Rumors have almost always preceded the school shootings of the past, and history has a habit of repeating itself.

Sadly, this is what is happening in some neighborhood schools. If they stay home every day there is a threat, they would miss most of the year. Thankfully, we don't live in an area like that, but the entire situation made me realize how helpless we are with regard to violence.

Gunshots cause permanent scaring - emotionally and physically. They can also cause permanent physical and mental damage. Of course, the can also cause death - either immediately, rapidly or slowly. Geven those facts, and the fact that there was a rumor sufficient to cause the school and police to take extra precautions I'd be keeping my kid home even he was unconcerned. While we cannot protect our kids from everything, we ought to protect them from the things we can.

So glad nothing happened. Last year, the first campus my son and I visited, just to give him an idea of what a college might "look like" was Northern Illinois University (scene of last month's shootings) and it did seem surreal when I first heard the news of what had taken place, knowing we'd been there previously....

An Update:

My son went. The two kids he drives in with chose not to (when that call came at 7 AM I didn't think correlation).

In his AP and Honors classes, about 2/3 of the kids attended and 1/3 was out. In the regular classes, he said it seemed there were more out. The kids who did show up made fun of the ones who stayed home.

Of course, they can joke about it, since nothing happened.

Thanks for the various perspectives. I think the key in this case is that my son was not in the least bit phased. The school isn't under lockdown, there are just more school police (and probably LAPD) visible around the campus.

It's hard, because it's my son, but I equate it with the bomb threats of years past, when the kids didn't want to take finals and would phone in a bomb threat. School was cancelled, no finals that day. After a few days of the nonsense, the professors were obligated to tell us that a threat had been phoned in, and that they'd very much like us to not leave but no one would be punished for leaving. And of course, none of us left.

In various parts of SoCal they've had similar threats, fueled by text messaging where schools have been emptied by unsubstantiated rumors. This is a first for us, as he's in a really decent school, but then again my heart goes out to the families in schools where this happens more often. This is something no family should have to get used to.

Over the years, we've had a few instances where the schools were "locked down". Each instance, upon investigation, turned out to be no danger to the students. For example, one child had firecrackers in his locker and was planning on throwing them in a garbage can of a grouchy neighbor. The initial report was "explosives" which rang the "bomb threat" bell in everyone's mind. Was it wrong, bad or stupid to bring firecrackers to school? Obviously. But it was never a threat to the students at large. There have also been squirt guns and other fizzled reports.

Probably the vast majority of reports are like this. For that reason, if the students are unconcerned, it might be because they have reason to suspect or even know that the incident was not serious.

HOWEVER, we live in a community that does have an active criminal element. There have been actual shootings within a block of the high school. It's undeniable that there are drug dealers around. The high school in particular, is very large. All of the elementary schools and middle schools are also large. Every rumor must be investigated.

The most egregious incident that turned out to be true, was the discovery of a gun in the girls washroom in an elementary school. It turned out to be have been accidentally left there by a janitor with surreptitious second career as a criminal!

Common sense in necessary. I also remember an incident in another suburb, of a teen being expelled because he had a knife in his truck. Turns out he had helped move his grandma to a new home the previous day, and one of her dinner knives had gone astray in the flat bed of his truck. But the school's policy was zero tolerance.

I believe if a school is on lock down, and taken precautions, parents should be notified. Our school has a text message system, in which you sign up for information related to your particular school. This is effective, since I only need reminders etc. for the 1 elementary my daughters attend, and not the other 10.

We are notified of evacuations and lock downs; usually by news and text messages.

I recommend parents check out their schools web sites to see if text notification is available. It is very handy for weather early dismissals, school function reminders, etc.

I would be upset. I would want the school to call if even a threat. True you can't protect them from everything but the school is responsible for the kids while they are there and I think parents should know if there was a rumor or threat about this kind of thing. I know they don't want to start a panic but I truly believe it should be the parents decision to either leave the kids in or take them out. I would at least want to know what was going on. JMHO

I agree with 2gr8lilgirls. There are no guarantees in life. It's statistically still more likely that a teen will be killed in a car accident or something other than a campus shooting, but we aren't preventing them from driving.

In my area, there was a recent shooting of employees in a fast food restaurant, and several teens, along with the adult owners of the store, were killed. They identified the gunman as a former employee, in his early 20's, who had been fired some time previously. I don't think any of us would have thought to tell our children (before they accept a job) to ask about any "disgruntled former employees" to watch out for, and yet they probably pose a bigger risk than an anonymous threat.

I wish violence wasn't so prevalent in our world, but I don't think we should become "hermits" afraid to go out, especially if rumors are unsubstantiated.

Have been in your shoes within past 3 months at my son's school. We found out a week after another child was caught with a gun in his backpack after making several threats because some kid had worn a confederate flag on his shirt. I was upset that I had to hear it from my nephew and not the school . The school (and all classes )was locked down for the day and the kids in the specidal education department had no idea there was a problem. I feel the school should have given us an option to pick up our child or had at least sent a letter home afterwards. Instead we had to hear it on the news for the next couple of days plus get additional details from another student who was there. (my nephew did not call because he was under the impression parents were being notified. Now whe will call from his cell phone whenever there is a problem)

I think this is the reality of the world we live in. We need to fear when we live life like nothing could happen.

The only good that I can see that has come since 911 is that we are now aware and more prepared to deal with the threats that have been a reality all along - we were just living in false security.

It would have been nice for parents to have been informed, but on the other hand, this could set off alarm and fright, and have provoked a "copy cat" to make the threat a self fulfilling prophecy. Hard to second guess these kind of things,