By Kelly O'Connell Reporter
News 3 On Your Side
Three areas schools were on lockdown for at least two hours because the suspects from this morning burglary were running loose in the area.News 3 On Your Side
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Stumble It!Putting the schools on lockdown is a standard procedure, but some parents are questioning how the schools alerted parents about the lockdown.
Angie Tommey knew something was wrong when she got a text message from her 16-year- old daughter this morning.
Tommey rarely gets text messages from her daughter, especially when she's in school, so she knew it had to be serious.
Tommey could tell her daughter was scared when she got the texts.
Her 16-year-old daughter was texting her mom all morning about the lockdown at Hardaway High School, asking her mom what was going on.
“Not being able to find out, you don't know if someone is at the school, in the school, you have no idea,” says Tommey.
Terrified by not knowing, Angie went to find out.
She turned on News Three and saw why the school was on lockdown and texted her daughter back the information.
“It’s scary to know that something very bad could have happened and we wouldn't have known about it,” says Tommey.
That's what Angie is most concerned about, why didn't she know something was going on at her child's school.
“Don't know why, no clue, there is an automatic service, I finally got a call at 12:47 today,” says Tommey.
Two hours after her daughter called, Angie got a message from Matt Bell, the principal at Hardaway High School.
The message, from the district's Connect-Ed program, told parents about the lockdown and said the lockdown had been lifted because the suspects were caught.
Angie's glad she got the call, but wonders why it took so long.
The district's director of communications, Valerie Fuller, says that delay is not surprising.
“If you're an administrator and at a school, you're not going to be sitting at your computer, the alerts are based on phone messages, you're not going to be typing out messages, you're going to make sure your students are safe, and staff are safe first,” says Fuller.
Angie's all for keeping the kids safe, but says the parents have the right to know when an emergency is going on.
“The fact that it alerted me after the fact, I didn't think much of that,” says Tommey.
The lockdown was lifted around 12:45 this afternoon.
The schools don't have to send out message regarding a lockdown; it's up to the principals to decide to send the messages.
All of the schools sent out their messages after the lockdown was lifted.
Fuller says it is typical to send out the messages towards the end of the day to ensure they have all the information to tell parents.
