KSDK Channel 5: Did They Go Too Far?

Melissa Jensen
3723 days ago.

Kirkwood Many people have heard by now about the “5 on your side” report about school security that led to a lock down of Kirkwood High School.  In case you haven’t, here’s a short recap: Channel 5 sent an investigative reporter to five area schools to test their security on Thursday.  Four of them passed, but Kirkwood High School failed.  The reporter entered an unlocked door, had to ask a teacher where the office was, and was told he could use the restroom unescorted without anyone questioning who he was or why he was there.  He left his number and when the school called concerned, they found from his voice mail that he was a reporter. They attempted to confirm this information but the station would not confirm it. When told the school would have to go on lock down if they could not get a confirmation, they still didn’t confirm it.  So, the school went on lockdown. Here’s the report that KSDK aired last night.

Many points here can be debated: why did it take the school an hour to go on lock down from when they began to be suspicious, among other things.  You can check out the full report on the KSDK website.

ksdk_304
Here’s where I have an issue:  The school failed as soon as he was able to pass a single classroom without being questioned. By the time they called the station, the school had failed their experiment on several different points. Why did they not just tell the school at that point what was going on?  Why did they allow it to get to the point that the school went on lock down frightening all those students?  The students had even less information than the administration; they didn’t know it was possibly a reporter when they were told to lock the doors, turn off the lights, and get out of sight. Sure, it makes a more sensational story. Maybe they wanted to see if the school would even go into lock down, but since the school had already failed, this step was unnecessary. It was not necessary to scare all of those kids to prove a point that was already proven.  Kirkwood failed, but shame on KSDK Channel 5.

**UPDATE** KSDK issued an apology on Sunday night



Brought to you by Mills Properties

Melissa Jensen

Melissa is a native of the Greater St. Louis region. She is addicted to anything Google, and cannot understand why motion activated paper towel dispensers never see her hands.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookYouTube