Duval County Public Schools and some local private schools are using training videos to educate our children regarding active shooters on campus. We heard from a retired 37 year preschool teacher who was horrified with the videos.
She said the videos were inappropriate for young children. They were not well done. They were unemotional. They were cold and scary – not reassuring and warm. They did not make the children feel secure. The words they used were too big for that age group.
One video shows the children running past a gunman who is supposed to be a police officer but it was still scary to watch. The same video shows the teacher eying the gunman through the window and deciding to take the children out of the classroom and run to safety. How would the teacher know if another gunman wasn’t in the path of where they were running to?
The children in the video were actors and were too cold in their responses AND the police officer in front of the room had absolutely no emotion. He didn’t make the children feel safe.
She gave the videos an F. And she has a right to do so. She taught Stranger Danger in her own classrooms and she said there are better ways to teach your children and have them participate in the teaching. You do it through discussions appropriate for their age and you do it over and over again to seal the information in their minds. Showing one video will not do the trick – it will only confuse them.
Our preschool teacher also sent us text images from a Nemour’s clinical psychologist who viewed the videos. Her text stated: “Opt Out.”
Our preschool teacher then stated, “If children Opt Out and then hear about the shooter from their other friends, it will alarm them.”
Our preschool teacher was none too happy with how all this is being handled. She wants the adults to think about the mind of a child when discussing such a sensitive issue. She believes these videos were rushed through but not thought through.
Leave it to a preschool teacher to set us all straight. She’s the expert about children and she should know best.
We are not identifying our preschool teacher as she asked us not to. We will respect her request and we thank her for reaching out to Eye to give us her thoughts.
The videos are here for your review. Let us know what you think.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://eyeonjacksonville.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Billie-Tucker-1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Billie Tucker has worked in the CEO world for more than 30 years and was the Chief Operating Officer of Vistage Florida, a think tank for CEOs. She started her own consulting practice, CEO Service Bureau, in 2001 and earned a reputation for her keen understanding of the motivations, challenges and goals of people and became a life-long student and teacher of leadership principles. She craved anything leadership related and enjoyed being around the world of entrepreneurial CEOs. She watched as they made decisions; pondered how they would make payroll when cash flow was tight; and appreciated how they created career opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people. Because of her experiences, she has emerged as a key resource for the media and others who want to understand important insights about executives, management teams and board dynamics. In 2008, Billie became discouraged as she watched some of her clients struggle with the political economic impacts on their businesses. The same CEOs who mortgaged their home and charged up their credit cards to make ends meet to build a business and keep others working, now watched as their government bailed out the big banks who had mismanaged their resources. She cringed as most of her clients laid off employees for the first time and she vowed she would help them… somehow…someway. That somehow…someway showed up in the Tea Party Movement in America. She formed one of the largest tea party group’s in America (more than 9,000 members strong) and helped bring attention to America’s debt problem, out of control spending, over taxation and regulation strangulation on companies. With her background in working with leaders and her influence in the political and leadership world, Billie has continued her dream to help CEOs navigate these troubling waters that permeate the world of capitalism in America. She has been an active participant in the media as a guest on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, Bott Family Network Radio and co-hosts a political/financial radio show in the Northeast Florida market entitled, Smart Money. She was the first speaker at the House of Representatives Tea Party Caucus inaugural event and was invited by Heritage Foundation to speak at their prestigious annual Heritage Resource Bank, and on their National Security Panel live broadcasts. She spoke at the Congressional Republican House Retreat in Pennsylvania in 2012. She was also the co-host and co-producer of the CNN Tea Party Express Debate in the 2012 Presidential Election. She is a firm believer that America needs more entrepreneurs and more opportunities for people to use their God-given talents and passions to better themselves, their communities and America. Her favorite quote has become her mission to help CEOs succeed: “Vision without execution is hallucination.” – Thomas Edison[/author_info] [/author]
