Every student that I've heard interviewed on Fox has said that the campus acted totally appropriately and did everything they reasonably to keep them safe considering the situation. The media is out of control in trying to make the news rather than just reporting it.
Colleges are noted for attempting to cover-up, silence, etc. bad PR so that their attendance stays up. 20/20, Dateline and others have done stories on this. Murders, rapes etc barely make a 'blimp' in the news because the colleges do not want the bad publicity....
This tragic mass murder on VT campus is so large and horrific that there is only so much damage control which the colleges can successfully accomplish.
Doesn't anyone find it remotely odd that with Columbine, the two student killers names and pictures were on TV within no time flat of the shootings and they stayed front and center for months afterward. A primarily county funded and operated 'business' such as a school system has very limited funding in comparrison to that of a University........
The colleges are almost like an Indian Reservation (can be- no offense intended toward our Native Americans) with their own 'Security' to often 'handle' their own 'issues', and in the case of colleges, these 'situations' are often handled as quietly as possible. When it is indeed a serious emergency with death and/or more criminal events and the local police are brought into the picture, they are often as 'silent' about the facts as the LE involved in this case.
Many college towns would not be more than a one traffic light, bump in the road, without the income generated from the college, its student body and faculty. The LE 'has no choice' but to scratch the back of the people 'scratching theirs'.
The bottom line is, that every parent in this country should educate their children in what to do in various emergency situations to protect themselves and others around them, (if they can help them, too), if they should they find themselves caught in a situation such as today when they are trapped and do not have the immediate support and help of school officials and law enforcement to keep them safe.
Parents of students (High School and Middle School age ) should also have codes with their children that identify emergency situations with both the parent and the student and a predesignated 'safe place' perarranged for pick up of child when necessary.
If they are under 'lock down', parents should advise students what to do in those situations as well.
Barricading the door with their bodies will get them killed.
Bowing on their knees to the gun man will get them shot in the head.
Carefully planned exit through windows may be their only emergency option.
Even older elementary school children, 4 th and 5 th graders can understand that an extreme emergency situation may dictate that the students themselves must make the decision to open the emergency exit door to their room and to run to safety on the school grounds, as they encourage other students to exit the same way. ( A teacher being violenty threatened by another adult at the classroom door- This type situation actually happened in our local school system, in my son's 4th grade classroom several years ago. Thankfully, I was aware of the danger my son and his classmates were in and had advised him of the situation prior to it actually happening. Teachers are human too... They can go through NASTY divorces with crazy husbands or wives... the same as the rest of the population can....We never know what may happen unexpectedly within our schools... and must prepare our children to deal with the dangers if they DO NOT have an adult official present and capable of doing it for them. )
Talking to our children about safety issues in today's school settings Kindergarten through College when the "SYSTEM" can not protect them may save their lives. (Of course, on an age appropriate scale....)
People.... please.... help PROTECT our Children.....
Angelwngs, former teacher and concerned human............