Posted on 01/17/2014 9:45:03 AM PST by servo1969
An undercover television news story to test security in local schools triggered a lockdown Thursday at Kirkwood High, angering parents and raising questions about media ethics.
Students and teachers at the school were huddled in classrooms with the lights off for about 40 minutes Thursday afternoon after a man came into the school and asked to speak with security, then left.
The visit was one of five made by the television station to schools in the region aimed at exposing lapses in school security.
After hours of social media uproar, KSDK aired the news report at 10 p.m.
During the segment, the station showed how a staff member was unable to enter four schools unimpeded, but was able to walk right into Kirkwood High School, which had no buzzers at the door and whose entrance was not locked. The news report also questioned why the Kirkwood lockdown took place an hour after the reporter left the school building.
Even before the segment aired, KSDK used its 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. broadcasts to issue a statement standing by its reporting.
“This lockdown certainly was not the intent of our visit,” KSDK said in the statement, pointing out that the lockdown didn’t happen for an hour until after the reporter left. The station says the reporter “identified himself by name” to school officials. However, KSDK didn’t claim that he identified himself as a reporter.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Prisons are locked down.
I guess Kirkwood passed the test.
Yeah when I was in high school in the early 80s the doors of our school were never locked. We were able to bring guns to school for hunting in the afternoon. They just had to remain in our cars if we drove or they needed to go to the principal’s office for the day.
Hmmm...
Mr. niteowl77
The news report also questioned why the Kirkwood lockdown took place an hour after the reporter left the school building.
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So let me get this straight. Security was breached. Nothing happened. An hour later the school goes on lockdown and teachers and students huddle in the dark for 40 minutes. And parents were outraged.
I’d be mad too. But not at the TV News people. But at the idiots (supposedly) in charge of security at the school.
guy came into the school, asked to speak with security, then left. how is that a security breach?
Which entrance would that be???
Kirkwood High School is like a college campus where students go outside between classes on their way from one classroom to another. There are atleast a dozen entrances and people going in and out of all those entrances all day long.
The news report also questioned why the Kirkwood lockdown took place an hour after the reporter left the school building.
Because they don't expect criminal behaviour from KSDK reporters but now they will.
This isn't going to backfire on the school but on KSDK and already is. The students and teachers and parents are going to be pissed at this unnecessary disturbance and they already are.
Modern school buildings look like prisons, and the atmosphere is a lot like prison.
Gannett station. Commies.
There are signs all over the campus particularly at the entrance where this reporter entered telling All Visitors to check in at the Main Office with a map to the Main Office.
This reporter failed to read and obey that sign.
What the hell was this reporter wanting — someone to read and interpret the sign for him or a personal escort to the Main Office.
He then said he was going to the bathroom but didn’t go there and left the school instead — that’s a breach of security how???
Frankly I would consider him a personna nongrata and the station idiots for comparing a high school with a dozen entrances to elementary schools with only one entrance.
And yet here they are all over the news patting themselves on the back.
So the guy finally makes his way to the office, says he’s from KSDK, leaves his name and number, says he’s going to the bathroom, but leaves the school.
The office calls KSDK to make sure this guy worked fro KSDK and they refuse to confirm whether or not he worked for KSDK. They wouldn’t give them an answer.
So a school faced with no confirmation from KSDK goes into lockdown sending fear throughout the school and the community.
A well deserved lawsuit is in the works for this against KSDK and should be.
Nope.
The station did a detailed investigation and exposed serious security breaches for which the school is guilty of.
I also read the article. KSDK also went to other schools who fared much better.
For the school to get all miffed and actually state that they would have liked a heads-up is ridiculous.
I’m on the side of the station here. The school should learn some leassons here and be glad this was only a test and not the real deal.
Are the names of their reporters a secret at KDSK?
There was no detailed anything -- it was just sensationalizing for sweeps week -- and when a phone call was made to verify this person's identity KSDK refused to give them an answer.
Is that OKAY for you???
I also read the article. KSDK also went to other schools who fared much better.
For the school to get all miffed and actually state that they would have liked a heads-up is ridiculous.
Let's be clear here. When the operation was over and the reporter left without notification the school called KSDK to ask for a confirmation. KSDK's refusal at that point to say yes or no to their employee having been there is what sent the school into lockdown.
And you think that's the school's problem???.
I’m on the side of the station here.
You're on the losing side of this. Parents of the schools are irate at KDSK and asking for heads to roll there.
That’s another interesting point —
KSDK refuses to release the name of the reporter who did this.
If this were an average citizen who did what this guy did the school would tell them to stay off the campus and don’t come back.
You can check their website or something I would think. Google his name, does his picture come up?
If this were an average guy, he might have been beaten by the cops to an inch of his life and they would go to his house and shoot his dog...
They'd get a restraining order from a judge. They should anyway, if the station won't name the reporter, then bar all KSDK employees, by individual name.
The beauty of a restraining order is that a reappearance is literally "breaking the law," carrying a penalty.
My kids' high school has trailer class rooms and the main building is over 20 years old, so it has many doors. Therefore locking the doors is not really an option.
Also in our area, coast of NC, we really don't worry about this sort of thing. If I was to hazard a guess, more than a few teachers carry pistols. And you would be hard pressed to find a house around the school that didn't have guns in them.
The school knows the reporter’s name, or atleast the name that he left at the office — but they aren’t releasing it.
It’s up to KSDK to do that and they are refusing to at this point.
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