If you have a particularly talkative child - the kind that comes home and reports everything - you may have heard something about a lockdown yesterday. Or perhaps "the police had to come to school yesterday." Well, not exactly, but we can never predict what the younger students may hear or remember.

Here's the story: We conducted another of our regular lockdown drills yesterday. The purpose of these drills is to practice our quick response to an intruder with violent intent. At approximately 2:00 p.m., the appropriate signal was sent out over the school PA system. Unlike in some larger school environments, the PA system never comes on during the school day so it really gets people's attention.

The announcement signaled the beginning of one of our routine lockdown drills. Ever since the more high-profile incidents of school violence, schools are conducting more of these kinds of drills. We now do five per year.

Here's something to think about: I just wrote a paragraph detailing the steps we take to ensure student safety. Then I thought about it and erased it all. Why broadcast our plans, I thought? The more security conscious among you are nodding your heads - yes, of course we wouldn't describe our procedures.

Both the fact that we hold these drills and the fact that I worry about posting a description on this blog site give me pause. I'd like not to have to write to you about this subject. And if I have to, I'd prefer to be transparent about procedures - so you could be assured that we are taking active steps to ensure MPA students' safety.

But here we are - again. I wrote about this subject last year and quoted these comforting and counterintuitive statistics: 1) Statistically, school is the safest place for children to be. 2) Students are more likely to be victims of violence outside of school than inside. 3) School-related violence is on the decline.

For the full article last year, coming on the heels of the Virginia Tech shootings and composed after our visit to the Race Exhibit at the Science Museum, click here.

And as for the police, they were actually not here yesterday but, as we have done in the past, we'll invite them at the next lockdown drill in a month or so to observe and give us guidance. All part of our work to be ready for a day we hope will never come.

Mike Downs
Head of School