Well, that was scary. An intruder burst into my classroom 30 minutes ago. Everyone is OK.

[Coventina]

Although my students have asked me to lock the classroom door during class from now on.

Two non-students came into the class, live-streaming to disrupt the class, as a prank, apparently. One held a camera while the other argued with me about whether he was allowed to be in the classroom as a non-student. He saw that I was going to call Campus Police so he left.

Not funny. Found out after the fact that they did this to several classes before Campus Police caught up with them and escorted them off the property.

Too much Jackass?

Anyway, not funny.

My students were very shaken.

[GPV]

1. As a fellow educator, I'm appalled. Your poor kids!

[Lunabell]

2. Damn it!

Those kids were probably terrified. I hope those "pranksters" get the full comeuppance of the law!

[Coventina]

4. Probably a citation for tresspassing will be it.

They won't be allowed on campus again, which means nothing, really, since we're open access.

[MichMan]

6. No criminal charges ?

[Coventina]

7. I doubt it, but I will follow up to see.

I don't know if anything they did was technically a crime.

[mahina]

10. What if they scared the wrong person?

They could have sufficiently terrified someone who was armed and lacked self control.

Fools!

They knew exactly what buttons this pushed. Who would have done this pre-mass shootings? No one.

[Coventina]

13. Good point! N/T

[niyad]

31. Or somebody with a weak heart or other medical condition. Imagine that

happening to someone with PTSD.

[wnylib]

64. They should face the same consequences as

people who make terrorist threats, like falsely claiming that there is a bomb in a school, retail store, etc.

This is not a prank. It is a deliberate form of terrorism. In NY and PA recently, there has been a series of bomb threats to public schools, causing lockdowns and psychological trauma to students.

I believe that these deliberately traumatizing actions are well planned and coordinated by people who want to terrorize the public. Likely suspects are MAGA gun supporters.

[underpants]

3. That must have been very scary

Stupid punks.

[gratuitous]

5. You have every right . . .

You have every right to demand from school authorities and the local cops what they're doing to discourage this, and hold these idiots responsible. It's not a prank, it's not a joke. This is the reality of living in an society that doesn't do shit about reducing violence. Escorting them off the campus isn't good enough, not by half. If they're minors, their parents need to be involved in any resolution of this intolerable situation.

[IbogaProject]

27. Worse than trespass

They actively disrupted an educational session. And if your students are kids that is straight child abuse. Those perps need to be on probation for awhile.

[Irish_Dem]

8. Isn't this trespassing?

Charges should be filed.

[Lochloosa]

9. The property owner has to "trespass" them first. If they return, then it becomes a crime.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

12. Typically its only trespassing if they refuse to leave

They need to be warned first and then refuse in order for it to be trespassing.

[Irish_Dem]

14. So anyone can burst into a classroom, scare the heck out of everyone

and it's not against the law.

Everyday the US criminal justice system looks more and more ridiculous.

[MarcA]

49. No harm done to Billionaires or their money "rights"

so nothing to see here. snark

[Irish_Dem]

51. Yep. Terrifying and murdering school children is an American value now. :(

But for god's sake don't let the rich and powerful ever be upset for any reason.

[reACTIONary]

67. There are criminal statutes against...

...malicious mischief and creating a public disorder.

[Irish_Dem]

68. That's what I thought.

[catrose]

43. I thought most schools make it clear with signage that visitors have to go through the office first.

They couldn't have had permission to do what they did.

[former9thward]

60. Signs are meaningless legally.

A person has to be verbally told by someone who is clearly in authority. A person can say they didn't see the sign, or read it, or understand it.

[róisín_dubh]

61. I could be wrong...

But I think Coventina teaches at a university. I’ve never worked at a university that has such rules.

[JanMichael]

11. Idiots. Great way to take a dirt nap too.

Imagine if an officer had just randomly walked in and acted? Taken down hard on the light side and perforated on the gun pulled side.

They need a a scared straight moment. Although they may be too stupid for that to work seeing that they were trying to get a rise out of barging into a class uninvited. The WORST joke ever.

[BigmanPigman]

15. What grade do you teach and how old were the assholes/pranksters?

[Coventina]

17. College. The "pranksters" seemed to be college age.

But, it's difficult to know for sure. They could have been as old as late-20s. I don't think they were younger than 19 based on their looks.

[LoisB]

16. Looking for something to post to YouTube, I expect. Not in the least bit funny.

[Coventina]

18. College police said they were live-streaming it.

I suppose a confused, then alarmed looking Coventina is on the internets, somewhere....

[niyad]

24. Sounds like one of those stupid, dangerous tik tok "challenges".

[Coventina]

42. I really hope not, or more such incidents will happen.

Please go back to the ice bucket challenge!!

[paleotn]

19. With some teachers now packin' heat, that could be a hazardous prank.

Someone is going to end up shot.

[Coventina]

21. But just imagine how many clicks they will get!!!!!!

Internet famous!!!!

[niyad]

22. Exactly what I was thinking.

[hadEnuf]

52. Yes, they were lucky.

People are getting sick of this school-as-violence-centers shit real quick.

[niyad]

20. How utterly frightening! I am glad that everyone is okay. My heart is racing just

reading about it.

May they receive everything they deserve.

[Coventina]

23. I have a feeling they will!

[niyad]

26. Is there anything that we can do for you? a drink? a massage?

[Coventina]

30. Hee! A massage by a burly masseuse might be just the ticket!!

[niyad]

32. I will see if Thor is available.

[Coventina]

34. He'll do nicely!!

[NickB79]

25. A hard kick to the balls was in order

Live stream that, assholes.

[Coventina]

28. Thanks for making me laugh!

[ancianita]

29. It's was always the principal's #1 job to keep everyone on the premises safe. Now, s/he will

have to write a letter of apology to these parents -- who might lawyer up to call for his/her suspension by the district board, and/or write it to stave off a lawsuit -- and assure them s/he will step up security at all entrances to the school.

Now, internally, s/he will furthermore have to have visitors always escorted to the Main Office to obtain a visitor's pass, then escorted to where the visitors say they want to go. Not all visitation is allowed at any time, however; most visits to classrooms aren't, and others have to be by prior appointment.

Then the principal will have to do what s/he said by the next morning before anyone enters the building.

Otherwise, s/he can be named sued for negligence.

[Coventina]

33. Well, fortunately for our college President

as an open-access institution, none of those requirements apply.

We do have a lot of high-school students on our campus, taking concurrent classes, so it is feasible some parents of minor children might hear about it.

I'm pretty sure all the students in that particular class are adults, though.

However, they disrupted several other classrooms, so who knows?

[ancianita]

35. When you said 'Campus Police,' I didn't assume a college. That's entirely different. Even so,

there must be an administrative meeting with campus police to investigate its policies and procedures.

Pranks or no, when even college students and staff are scared, there has to be a hardening of safety systems, or the school can lose students, money, and public reputation as a safe learning place. Administrators on most campuses are still held to some extent, under "en loco parentis" levels of liability.

[Coventina]

41. Apologies! I did not mean to mislead. Yes, we've had several such discussions.

We've recently had a spate of "incidences" that were scary, but not violent (yet) on campus.
It has definitely shown some weak spots in our emergency procedures.

As a result, we had our first-ever lock-down drill in January, and we're scheduled to have a fire drill before the end of the semester.
We've never done any of those things before.

I'm not sure how "hard" we can make our campus, as we're a community college, and we encourage non-students to come to campus to use our facilities: library, gym, career center, etc.
We are also an early-voting location, and host a lot of community events like farmers' markets, various performing arts events, free workshops, etc. etc.

It's tough for an institution like ours, that wants to serve all members of the community, yet somehow keep the dangerous elements out.

[ancianita]

44. Understood. Thanks. And I'm glad you're all okay. For now.

[halfulglas]

69. Drills are difficult to schedule on college campuses because of the

Requirements of fitting in the time for credits in limited time. So selfish of those idiots looking to create "content" for their social media presence.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

36. Thank you for putting "Everyone is ok" in the title!

Those 'pranksters' knew exactly what they were doing. It should cost them something. Public scorn, at least.

[Coventina]

37. Yes, I wanted everyone to know nothing tragic happened. I feel lucky, actually.

I mean, so many other educators never survived their intruders.

[FM123]

38. Just awful.

One person's prank is another person's terror. I'm so sorry this happened to you and your students.

[malaise]

39. lad you're all OK

Damn!

[Maeve]

40. Glad you're all OK. Stupid jackasses

[Joinfortmill]

45. Callous. Big time community service required here

[TeamProg]

46. Gym Jordan and Matt Gaetz WANNA-BE's.. nt

[TeamProg]

47. Where ???

[Coventina]

48. Phoenix AZ n/t

[AllaN01Bear]

50. when my late mom taught , she always lock her door during school hours .

and shed lock the door when she had to do stuff at school after hours . shed bring me , the dog( 100 pound huskey) for backup.

[Warpy]

53. Locking your door seems prudent

especially if it will make your class feel a bit safer.

I would imagine there's video of them in the halls, so maybe they'll be identified sooner rather than later.

I'm just glad it wasn't any worse, although this was certainly bad enough for the kids.

[ShazzieB]

54. Sounds like a good idea to me, too.

What a couple of jackholes.😡

[Fla Dem]

55. What a really stupid thing to do especially when everyone is on edge regarding intruders.

[The Jungle 1]

56. Schools are being swatted all over the country.

I am wondering if it is an organized protest?

[keithbvadu2]

57. These aholes would be ok with it done to their family homes?

These aholes would be ok with it done to their family homes?

[Oneironaut]

58. There's a particular trend now on social media to stream yourself being as obnoxious as possible.

The point is to get a reaction that results in going viral.

[debm55]

59. Wow. Coventina,. What an terrible way to prank someone. I hope you and your students are okay.

[Meowmee]

62. Wow scary stuff

I am glad you are all ok. I once had to call security on a student who went nuts in the class. The student ran away before they showed up and then was deregistered out of the class permanently.

[GoneOffShore]

63. Probably a "First Amendment Frauditor"

[BlackSkimmer]

65. They weren't even charged with anything?

That's kind of frightening in this day and age. They should have been trespassed at least.

[IronLionZion]

66. Shooting with a camera is better than guns

but still this is wrong and should have some criminal charges, with video evidence

[SYFROYH]

70. These TikTok pranksters really need to get their asses kicked.

It might be TikTok, but it's popular there.

[Ligyron]

71. Locked door when class begins is SOP at my Wife's elementary school.

After that they have to knock on heavy door and appear in little window for id

Never had to do this when I was in elementary school.

Better safe than sorry but still Sad.

[regnaD kciN]

72. Lucky for them you weren't a "good guy with a gun"...

[Coventina]

73. If they persist in this behavior, they will find one sooner or later.

A lot of people are packing heat here in the "wild west."

[NowISeetheLight]

74. Students Need Guns

The NRA is right. Obviously we need students to be allowed to carry guns to protect themselves while in class. I’m sure none would’ve actually used one in this case.

This sort of thing is exactly why we need more gun control. In this day and age I can totally see some traumatized student doing something out of fear.