Overreaction? You Make the Call

Heritage Middle School Lockdown

February 14, 2013

Is there such a thing as overreaction by school officials in our country these days? I would have to vote, MAYBE.

This story hits close to home since I live within spitting distance of Meridian but as the story goes a teen was spotted with a suspicious item by a staff member and another student. So far so good.

They reported it to the resource officer. I see common sense being used.

The resource officer initiated a lockdown of the school which affected the surrounding area. Roads were closed, parents were notified and surrounding schools were put on alert and nobody was permitted to leave. What the heck!

This is seriously how the story read. In my day the resource officer was armed and trained. Hell, none of us wanted a visit from him because that meant he knew we were screwing around and smoking behind the school. This story has made its way into the NOCOMMON SENSE News because for starters nobody approached the teen and said, “hey what’s that in your bag?” It wasn’t reported that he was carelessly swinging this suspicious item around or acting crazy, he was simply walking down the hall. Oh yah and the so-called weapon (as the police put it) was a foldable shovel that he brought to school to use as a prop for one of his classes.

All of this could have been avoided if someone would have exercised a bit of common sense and evaluated the situation without imagining the worst possible scenario. I understand the use of caution but if this kid was going to go crazy he would have done it long before police arrived and detained him. Why didn’t anyone walk up to him and ask him what was up?