Mass. school district buys hammers and duct tape to thwart active school shooters

Brockton Public Schools in Brockton, Massachusetts, are preparing for an active shooter incident by equipping classrooms with blue buckets containing hardware store items in an effort to keep kids safe.

Senior WCVB reporter Jorge Quiroga tweeted an image of one of the buckets, which contains a hammer, a wooden doorstop block, duct tape, and rope to be used in case of an emergency school lockdown or shooter situation. Lowe's is providing the materials to the school district wholesale, at about $11 per bucket.

School Deputy Superintendent Mike Thomas told WCVB that keeping kids safe is "the number one most important job I have."

He said that the school district trains teachers to either "hide, run, or fight" in emergency situations. The hardware store materials are meant to aid teachers. Thomas explained, for example, that the hammer and wooden block can be used to jam the door shut to create an "extra barrier" to make it harder to open the door or that the hammer can be used to break windows to help kids escape.

The roll of duct tape is for sealing the door to prevent smoke from seeping in to the room. The rope is intended to help "tie off the door."

In a video posted to YouTube, Thomas walked through how the materials in these buckets are meant to keep kids safe from an active gunman.

Even the bucket can be used — as a toilet.

"The bucket could be used for, you know, if you're in the room for a very long time," Thomas explains. "What we're taught is if you feel you're safe in the room you stay in that room and you could be in there for two hours until the police come and release you.

"So if you're in there for a couple hours also it could be used for a bathroom."

Every classroom in the district will receive one of these "emergency kits." Enterprise news reports that Lowe's helped prepare 1,080 bucket kits and that teachers will be trained how to properly use the hammer, rope, and duct tape in case an individual with a gun attacks the school.

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