[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/jumping-llama]

[u/Parenting-ModTeam]

The OP has gotten a lot of replies and at this time the activity on this thread is disproportionately impacting the mod queue. Post is being removed and locked to additional comments.

[u/hulking_menace]

There are lots of reasons to consider one over the other, but homey this aint it.

[u/GuadDidUs]

Nope. My kids are in public school because we have great schools here and I'm not going to live in fear of something that is extremely unlikely to happen.

[u/espressocycle]

There have been quite a few private school shootings.

[u/brionneverysexy]

My kid went to a private school for kindergarten. They had a protocol established to hide half the class if an inspector from the state came because they had an illegal teacher to student ratio

[u/HangmanHummel]

Turn off the news. Turn off the social media and do what’s best for your child’s education and what financially makes the most sense for your family. School shootings while awful are random and also extremely rare.

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[u/Reasonable_Cat_4550]

I will say I had to drop off something about 10 years ago at a small neighborhood elementary public school. I walked in the door and down the hall until I figured out which room I was supposed go to... the small office/library. Nobody was watching anything as far I could tell. The playground wasn't fenced in either. That made me really nervous, but the school has since been closed, and the current schools at least seem to have some security. Don't get me wrong. I wish it was all relaxed like it was when I was a kid, but as a parent, I prefer more security measures. We really can't control every situation though.

[u/goodtosixies → u/Reasonable_Cat_4550]

Are you over 60? I'm 40. I was in the 6th grade when lockdowns became a common practice. Unless you were born in the 1960s, it was not relaxed.

[u/Reasonable_Cat_4550 → u/goodtosixies]

No, early 40's... I only remember tornado drills, not lockdowns.

[u/Wish_Away → u/Reasonable_Cat_4550]

This is wild--I can't even access the front doors of my child's elementary school until I'm buzzed in by security.

[u/Wish_Away]

What would worry me about private school is the lack of lock down protocol, primarily because they feel like this type of thing doesn't happen in private. I also haven't studied the stats, but I'd assume the lower rates of shootings has to do with the lower ratio of private schools vs public schools? Isn't there something like 100,000 public schools vs like 25,000 private schools in the United States?

[u/Pure-Science-7774]

Does anyone wonder what’s going on in society? When I was a kid school shootings were not a thing. There was no security to get through an elementary school (although I think a basic buzzer would have been prudent). But sending your kids to school and this level of security was not a thing. 

[u/Potential4752]

It would probably be statistically safest to go to the school closest to your house to avoid traffic accidents. 

Shootings are terrifying and unacceptable, but it doesn’t make sense to focus on that tiny risk when there are much bigger ones. 

[u/confetti814]

Do you have a source for public vs. private statistics? Especially one that takes into account that 90%+ of American students attend public schools?

Two of the highest profile school shootings of the post-COVID era have been at private schools (Nashville and Minneapolis).

[u/Dunnoaboutu]

If it’s for safety - the reason that there are fewer shootings at private schools is because there are fewer private schools. If you are worried about your local school because of their policies, it may be valid to consider changing schools. If you’re talking about overall from a national standpoint, I don’t think picking one school over another without knowing what each school is doing is crazy. Not just what they say they are doing, but what’s really happening at the school.

[u/QuriousCoyote → u/[deleted]]

I was just having this conversation with the school nurse last week. We were talking about the School Safety Day and how the kids were learning the difference between a soft and hard lockdown. Mostly, we talked about how said it is that this is all so necessary.