Oh yeah, *that* makes me feel better

NEISD (the school district the girls are now in, for those of you outside of SA) is quite fond of sending letters via e-mail for pretty much everything.  We got this one Friday:

That big paragraph, in case you can't read it:

This is a stark reminder of the importance of our safety procedures and our check-in and screening processes for all visitors to campuses.  NEISD has a secure protocol with solid procedures in place to handle situations of this nature.  I emphasize the importance, however, that they must be followed--it takes us all working together to help keep our campuses safe.

Well, golly gee, I feel better now!  If only that school in Connecticut had had a "secure protocol" instead of a big sign out front saying WELCOME CRAZED GUNMEN; EASY TARGETS!

Wait, what?  It didn't? The hell you say.

For obvious reasons, I am not going to go into detail about my daughters' school safety procedures and campus layout.  Suffice to say the school office is well-hidden even from visitors trying to do the whole "report to the office first" thing, and that anyone will ill intent could probably murder his way through half the school while the other half remained unaware.  It is not a secure campus in the slightest, for all the pretty (?) fences and gates.  I have seen absolutely zero evidence that any other school in this city--NEISD or not--is any more secure, if we are speaking in terms of actual might-help security.  Even Douglass elementary, which my girls attended when we lived on the East Side and which was locked with a door buzzer, wasn't secure.  All you had to do there was press a button and they'd unlock the door.  Weapons of most sorts are fairly easily concealed, and it's not like they asked questions of visitors or that someone couldn't easily lie their way inside.  (If you say something along the lines of "I'm here to pick up Mike Gonzalez" in this city, you have a better than 50/50 chance of being right, and you never even had to get that detailed.)

So, really, what's the point of this sort of thing?  I would like to think Dr. Gottardy isn't really so stupid as to believe his own words here.  The alternative is that he is telling parents what he knows is most likely to reassure them, and I can actually get behind that.

What I can't get behind is parents actually believing it.  And yet, I know they do.  Facebook this weekend was host to a few posts about parents checking with their kids to be sure they knew the drill for this sort of things, and being happy that they did.  I suppose it's tempting to lie to yourself that hiding will make things better but it won't, and it is stupid and dangerous to pretend otherwise.  Instead of advocating for changes which might actually make a difference, far too many parents are crawling right back into their previous hole of stupidity.  Thank God this sort of thing is uncommon, but with the way the media blathers on and lets would-be copycats know they too can become (in)famous, it might not stay that way.