Moving around the corner from a public high school

amother

Cobalt

Fri, Apr 21 2017, 3:06 pm

So we found a house that my husband is in love with but it is around the corner from a public high school. I did some research on this school and back in January, there was a shooter threat and the school closed early and was on lock down. This, of course, does not sit well with me. I showed the article about the shooter threat to my husband and he did not take it seriously at all. He said it's no big deal and that nothing actually happened. I have no idea how he could not take this more seriously. I'm thinking moving around the corner from this school may not be the best idea. However, we have friends who live right down the block from the school and claim that they have never had any problems. But this really does not sit well with me.

dancingqueen

Fri, Apr 21 2017, 3:40 pm

Unfortunately bomb threats and shooter threats even at Jewish schools seems to be the way life is now. But yes the noise and foot traffic could be a concern. Is your town a safe town in general? I might not want to live right by a school either.

musicmom

Fri, Apr 21 2017, 3:40 pm

Well if there is going to be a problem like that probably no one will see it coming.

I grew up near Newtown, CT, and that is the most decent docile great place to be and look what happened there. Nobody saw that coming.

However, I am a public school teacher in a very difficult inner city with a lot of crime and violence, and I can assure you that nowadays every teacher and student is very well trained on safety procedures to keep everybody safe. For example, each teacher has a key to lock their room from the inside if there is a threat, we sewed curtains that we let down in that even to hide our students, and make plans of where to hide in the closet, how to hide, and each class practices hiding several times a year. We also have a telephone in our classroom and we each have locking doors..... so back in the day (ie before Newtown, only 4 years ago, we had no locks, didn't all have doors, had no intercom system, no closets, no telephone in my room, so now it really is a different world :-). We being in a difficult environment do have a security officer and always have, so if there is a danger in a bad type of place it is even better managed by trained professionals.

Of course those bad things you plan for never really happen, it is the things you don't suspect that take you by surprise. I hope you enjoy your new home near your friends!

amother

Royalblue

Fri, Apr 21 2017, 3:46 pm

Do you mean like the school has a gang problem or there was once an incident where there was a threat? If the former, stay away. If the latter, it's nothing to worry about. Do your kids attend yeshiva? Because yeshivas are much more of a target than any random public school. That said, I'd be much more concerned about noise and traffic being next to a school.