School District That Provided Rocks To Defend Against Shooters Beefs Up Security

[RavenSky]

Last week, Helsel said every classroom in the district about 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia has a 5-gallon bucket of river stones as a last resort should an armed intruder burst in.

"We always strive to find new ways to keep our students safe," Helsel told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding that the rocks are one small part of the district's overall security plan.

Throwing rocks is more effective than just crawling under desks and waiting, and it gives students and teachers a chance to defend themselves, he said. The district has about 2,700 students at three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.

Staff and students in the Blue Mountain district have been trained in a program called "ALICE" which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. Helsel said the rocks are part of the "counter" portion of training, fighting back if the intruder makes his way into the classroom.

The buckets are kept in classroom closets.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...t-provides-rocks-fend-school-shooters-n859971

okey dokie

 

[fast]

How senseless! It's bad enough the rocks are in buckets, but shielding the rocks from damage from would-be assailants (who are hell bent on harming rocks) by merely using a closet to protect them is outrageous. These rocks need to be under lock and key and cemented underneath a grave of iron, metal, and steel! No water, oxygen, or virus should be given the instruments of access (not even bacteria, plankton, or kids).

#love thy rocks

 

[laughing dog]

I am touched that the school district's administration donated their brains in order to protect the children.

 

[Mumbles]

Two things:

It seems to me that, if you're at this point, you've given up on saving the kids in the classroom - you're delaying the shooter in the hopes that he won't make it to the next classroom.

I can't really fault the school administration on this - it's absurd on it's face, but they can hardly do much to reduce the threat on their own. This is at the "Well, this is all I've really got." level, much like stupid things like clear backpacks or using metal detectors to stop someone who simply wants to kill as many kids as he can. Metal detectors, though, can have some limited use where targeted violence can easily spill over into classrooms. But this is still a problem with gun laws overall, and not something administrators can handle on their own.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

There are tens of thousands of unemployed major and minor league pitchers that would be capable of beaning the shooter with a rock. We should consider hiring them at every school and giving them a bucket.

 

[Underseer]

According to conservative arguments, throwing rocks is just as deadly as an assault rifle, therefore this is a completely effective defense. It's only absurd if you think conservative arguments are wrong, and they can never be wrong.

Also, rocks are not sentient, therefore it would be wrong to tell this school they can't use rocks for self defense.

- - - Updated - - -

If you ban rocks, then only criminals would have rocks!

 

[Playball40]

We should arm schools with ex baseball players!! That's GREAT!

There are tens of thousands of unemployed major and minor league pitchers that would be capable of beaning the shooter with a rock. We should consider hiring them at every school and giving them a bucket.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

According to conservative arguments, throwing rocks is just as deadly as an assault rifle, therefore this is a completely effective defense.

I needed to reinforce this as it sounds like silliness and Underseer is exaggerating. He isn't. I believe there was a case where a person was throwing rocks at a cop and was shot and at least one person here thought the shooting was legit.

If you ban rocks, then only criminals would have rocks!

- - - Updated - - -

We should arm schools with ex baseball players!! That's GREAT!

There are tens of thousands of unemployed major and minor league pitchers that would be capable of beaning the shooter with a rock. We should consider hiring them at every school and giving them a bucket.

The crazy thing is, it isn't that terrible of an idea. It is a terrible idea, but not an extremely terrible one. You'd need a pitcher and someone to catch and subdue the guy after getting beaned.

 

[fast]

We should arm schools with ex baseball players!! That's GREAT!

There are tens of thousands of unemployed major and minor league pitchers that would be capable of beaning the shooter with a rock. We should consider hiring them at every school and giving them a bucket.

you get 40 rocks, lol

 

[Underseer]

I needed to reinforce this as it sounds like silliness and Underseer is exaggerating. He isn't. I believe there was a case where a person was throwing rocks at a cop and was shot and at least one person here thought the shooting was legit.



- - - Updated - - -

We should arm schools with ex baseball players!! That's GREAT!

There are tens of thousands of unemployed major and minor league pitchers that would be capable of beaning the shooter with a rock. We should consider hiring them at every school and giving them a bucket.

The crazy thing is, it isn't that terrible of an idea. It is a terrible idea, but not an extremely terrible one. You'd need a pitcher and someone to catch and subdue the guy after getting beaned.

Actually, a certain right wing poster around here argued that shooting children for throwing rocks is completely reasonable.

I therefore argue that we as a nation should save money by replacing all army weapons with rocks. Rocks are just as deadly, and the taxpayer would save billions of dollars. It's win-win!

 

[Tom Sawyer]

We should arm schools with ex baseball players!! That's GREAT!

There are tens of thousands of unemployed major and minor league pitchers that would be capable of beaning the shooter with a rock. We should consider hiring them at every school and giving them a bucket.

That's not good long term thinking. What if those baseball players go rogue and start throwing the rocks at students?

We should also hire ex-NHL goalies who'll be able to catch the rocks in their gloves and then run up and beat the baseball players with their sticks in the event of the above happening.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

We should arm schools with ex baseball players!! That's GREAT!

There are tens of thousands of unemployed major and minor league pitchers that would be capable of beaning the shooter with a rock. We should consider hiring them at every school and giving them a bucket.

That's not good long term thinking. What if those baseball players go rogue and start throwing the rocks at students?

We should also hire ex-NHL goalies who'll be able to catch the rocks in their gloves and then run up and beat the baseball players with their sticks in the event of the above happening.

But what if the goalies go rogue too? We will be helpless. The only thing that can defend us is thoughts and prayers. They won't turn on us.

 

[LordKiran]

Two things:

It seems to me that, if you're at this point, you've given up on saving the kids in the classroom - you're delaying the shooter in the hopes that he won't make it to the next classroom.

I can't really fault the school administration on this - it's absurd on it's face, but they can hardly do much to reduce the threat on their own. This is at the "Well, this is all I've really got." level, much like stupid things like clear backpacks or using metal detectors to stop someone who simply wants to kill as many kids as he can. Metal detectors, though, can have some limited use where targeted violence can easily spill over into classrooms. But this is still a problem with gun laws overall, and not something administrators can handle on their own.

Pretty much in agreement. It's actually not a bad idea for how little effort goes into it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Two things:

It seems to me that, if you're at this point, you've given up on saving the kids in the classroom - you're delaying the shooter in the hopes that he won't make it to the next classroom.

I can't really fault the school administration on this - it's absurd on it's face, but they can hardly do much to reduce the threat on their own. This is at the "Well, this is all I've really got." level, much like stupid things like clear backpacks or using metal detectors to stop someone who simply wants to kill as many kids as he can. Metal detectors, though, can have some limited use where targeted violence can easily spill over into classrooms. But this is still a problem with gun laws overall, and not something administrators can handle on their own.

Pretty much in agreement. It's actually not a bad idea for how little effort goes into it.

Well, and having a bucket of sand can help with a fire... a small one, but thinking that using it in lieu of sprinklers isn't a good idea.

 

[LordKiran]

Two things:

It seems to me that, if you're at this point, you've given up on saving the kids in the classroom - you're delaying the shooter in the hopes that he won't make it to the next classroom.

I can't really fault the school administration on this - it's absurd on it's face, but they can hardly do much to reduce the threat on their own. This is at the "Well, this is all I've really got." level, much like stupid things like clear backpacks or using metal detectors to stop someone who simply wants to kill as many kids as he can. Metal detectors, though, can have some limited use where targeted violence can easily spill over into classrooms. But this is still a problem with gun laws overall, and not something administrators can handle on their own.

Pretty much in agreement. It's actually not a bad idea for how little effort goes into it.

Well, and having a bucket of sand can help with a fire... a small one, but thinking that using it in lieu of sprinklers isn't a good idea.

But we already have sprinklers. We don't currently have much of an answer to school shootings (For one reason or another...) I'm not saying it's right, but in lieu of a better option I can appreciate this.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, and having a bucket of sand can help with a fire... a small one, but thinking that using it in lieu of sprinklers isn't a good idea.

But we already have sprinklers. We don't currently have much of an answer to school shootings (For one reason or another...) I'm not saying it's right, but in lieu of a better option I can appreciate this.

It's a hail mary pass, so I appreciate that angle. The problem is, you need to hit the guy and hard (ie need a Major League pitcher), and you get one throw.

The main problem here is that the optics of it look pathetic. But being in a country where school shootings kind of happen at a rate similar to winning on a scratch ticket... that also seems pathetic.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

That's not good long term thinking. What if those baseball players go rogue and start throwing the rocks at students?

We should also hire ex-NHL goalies who'll be able to catch the rocks in their gloves and then run up and beat the baseball players with their sticks in the event of the above happening.

But what if the goalies go rogue too? We will be helpless. The only thing that can defend us is thoughts and prayers. They won't turn on us.

Just give the teachers guns. That allows them to shoot any rogue goalies.

 

[LordKiran]

That's not good long term thinking. What if those baseball players go rogue and start throwing the rocks at students?

We should also hire ex-NHL goalies who'll be able to catch the rocks in their gloves and then run up and beat the baseball players with their sticks in the event of the above happening.

But what if the goalies go rogue too? We will be helpless. The only thing that can defend us is thoughts and prayers. They won't turn on us.

Just give the teachers guns. That allows them to shoot any rogue goalies.

You know this brings a question to mind: Why did we start at "Give teachers guns" rather than "Give teachers tasers" I'd actually be more afraid of that personally but am all the same surprised that wasn't the starting point.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Just give the teachers guns. That allows them to shoot any rogue goalies.

You know this brings a question to mind: Why did we start at "Give teachers guns" rather than "Give teachers tasers" I'd actually be more afraid of that personally but am all the same surprised that wasn't the starting point.

Tasers wouldn't go through the goalie pads. Also, because arguing that you should arm people with wimpy little tasers wouldn't let someone sound like a maverick cowboy who's tough enough to deserve the votes of other maverick cowboys

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Should we maybe get a little too literal with beefing up security. Would cows help us? They are particularly thick creatures, so they should be able to hold up to bullets. Be a lot easier to shield yourself with a cow than to try and throw rocks.

This helps us remove concerns about rouge or rogue goalies and pitchers.