Owings Mills High Lockdown: What's A Parent Supposed To Do?

Today my son was watching television and he informed me that Owings Mills High School was on lockdown. I went to the WBAL-TV homepage and saw that a boy had brought a BB gun to school, which prompted the lockdown.

A little later my husband called and informed me that helicopters were circling the area and I told him about the incident. At this point I had not received any information directly from the school. My daughter sent me a text asking me to pick her up once the lockdown had ended.

When I arrived I was directed to a room full of anxious parents who like me were there to pick up their children. The administrators were doing their best to match up the parents with their children. Even the principal was active in the process. My question is, why didn’t we receive a phone call or a text advising us of the situation?

I receive phone calls on my home phones and simultaneous calls on my cell phone telling me about all manner of school activities. They have the capabilities to contact us. Why was that same technology not used to inform us of this matter?

My daughter said they were on lockdown for over 90 minutes and they were told nothing. What happened? I am sure there will be analysis of the situation and questions will be asked and answered, but for now my question is if you can call me on my two numbers to tell me there is a PTA meeting, then why can’t you use one of those numbers to tell me the school is on lockdown?