Private schools have been conducting lock-down drills for years. And they have in place special alarms to signal same.
It is an odd thing to have your kids huddle quietly in a corner of the room, a corner that can't be seen through the door window, and know that if somehow someone got in, you'd go into kill-or-be-killed mode.
Would the lacrosse stick nearby be of any use? Would your middle-aged agility be able to dodge bullets as you run towards the gun?
Perhaps a more helpful drill than when I was a child, about the time of the Bay of Pigs, when we sat under our little oak desks so that radiation wouldn't land on our heads.
Public schools have become sitting ducks for gunmen and for people like Betsy DeVos who want to eliminate public schools. The latest shootings in public schools will add to the costs of a public school system by adding security costs. With Internet access, parents will be opting out of sending their children to public school and to cutting funds.
Accidentally, I caused a lockdown in Midwood HS in Brooklyn where I had been teaching by putting a windup alarm clock in my locker. The ticking sound caused panic. The wake-up call is that public schools are not safe. Watch how Trump uses this to eliminate them rather than challenge the NRA!
2
As a teacher during a lockdown, I had to step outside to lock the door. That was scary. Then, I had to look at my students who knew we literally had no place to hide. You see, our room was a temporary, pre-fab bungalow, with big windows, flimsy curtains and no closets. Some students were nervous and laughed when we were trying to be quiet. I tried not to breathe. Thankfully, it was over in 10 minutes or so and there was no more danger. Nobody should be subject to such fear. Unfortunately, it's happening too often.
2
Assault weapons must be banned. The age to buy guns must be raised to 21 and more thorough background checks must be made. This is madness. There are too many guns and too many angry, mainly white, men. Anger management must be taught.
2
My daughter started having panic attacks as a freshman. They started either during or after a lockdown. They went on for years.
2
We have to be careful not to conflate gun control as a general topic and the specific issue at hand: school shootings. To do so is to do the NRA’s bidding. They’d love to confuse the issue. It is the lethality of the AR-15’s and their kin that allows 17 people to be killed in minutes in Parkland and 58 people in 10 minutes in Las Vegas (with 800 injured, 400 + shot). These are not weapons for civilians. They are made to do exactly what school shooters do with them, and they should be removed from society.
1
Laws only change when people take to the streets and demand it. I hope you will march in rallies on March 24, against gun violence and for commonsense regulation.
1
great article
During a lockdown drill at my daughter’s school, when the students and teachers don’t know if it real or not, my daughter was in the band room with no teachers. She had gone there between classes to retrieve her instrument. She and another student hid in the closet crying and holding hands.
Really? This is what we do now?
4
As a retired teacher, the more drills and lockdowns I experienced, the more I was convinced that we were providing high entertainment and satisfaction and training for a potential school shooter, who maybe was sitting huddled in the corner with the rest of us.
2
Just this morning my daughter's high school went on lockout which progressed to lockdown when a student was seen with a suspicious object. Nothing came of it, but for 30 minutes she sat against the wall in a darkened, locked school room, while I waited in a panicked worry about her. This was not the first time it happened. It got me thinking. There are the Trump voters who are angry about immigrants and losing their guns. Well I'm angry that I have to know the difference between a lockout and lockdown, that I have wait helplessly for an all clear text while my daughter hunkers down in fear, and that we can't get behind sensible laws that prevent teenagers having easy access to automatic weapons.
8
This is one of the things that's so sicking about the refusal to address gun violence!
Apart from the poor kids slaughtered, a whole generation of kids is growing up in fear, anxiety, and with 'lock-down' drills as a norm!
And WHY?
Because the NRA and right-wing extremists have stonewalled ANY attempt at addressing gun violence!
What about our children's rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? ALL are threatened by this rampant gun violence -- and the refusal to do ANYTHING about it!
18
This is our national shame, that our kids must live in terror of being gunned down at school. Not by "Muslim terrorists," the current administration's boogeyman, but by predominantly white disturbed young men. And none of our erstwhile legislators can find their way to giving up their NRA dollars to protect these kids. Shameful.
17
“Lincoln is in the building."
As a kindergartner in 1999 I was taught this code at my elementary school. This was the phrased used to covertly signify to students and teachers that there was a dangerous person in the building. At age five, I knew that if I heard this message over the loud speaker I needed to find the nearest room, shut the door, lock it if possible, turn off the lights, and hide. I remember for certain that I’ve been on lockdown or had to shelter in place in Kindergarten, when someone violent was in near the school, in 5th grade, when a parent threatened the school, in 8th grade, when there were gunshots in the neighborhood, and in 9th grade, when there was an armed robbery nearby. I have many more less defined memories of other times that we had to lock the classroom door, turn off the lights, and pile into a corner of the room where an intruder wouldn’t be able to see us through the window in the door.
I don’t think I ever took lockdowns seriously as a student but I do now. I'd like to hear other people’s stories of school lockdowns. Thank you NYT for reporting this.
5
I was an elementary school teacher for 4 years before leaving the profession. Of those 4 years, the most vivid memories I have are of intruder drills. I'd like to try to explain the intense feelings of responsibility and fear that are going through teachers, contrasted so starkly with the students huddled in a corner poking each other and joking around, but I can't. So instead, I urge every parent to visit their child's school during a lockdown drill. Don't try to imagine, because you can't. Go and experience it for yourself.
12
All 3 of my kids, 1st, 3rd and 5th grade, are terrified out going to school now. Since parkland, they have been told to lock yourself in the bathroom (even though they have no doors), if you are in the hall hallwy during a Code red to run a and try to find a place to hide because teachers can’t open the doors once it’s locked. If you are outside on the playground during a Code Red, run and jump the fence and run to a house or store. We have had more stomach aches and headaches and missed days because their very real anxiety and very valid fears. For a while I was heartbroken, and now I am plain angry at the toll the NRA and complicit republicans are taking on our next generation. Something has to change and the answer isn’t more guns and it’s not a its not more hugs from teachers. Fix it, america, before we lose an entire generations to fear, anger and gun violence.
21
Say facile, but it's amazing how fast schools deteriorated since religion was removed.
Really? Religion? Citations needed.
2
And when was that? There was no religion that I noticed when I was in school in the '50s and '60s and not when I started teaching in schools in the '70s and continued until 2008. Exactly when was this religion in the schools and what did it look and sound and smell like? You know, seeing as how I know of no such time in the past 70 years.
9
It's French, "C'est facile." Don't use it if you don't know it. Virtually all school shooters are religious. Religion in public schools was never removed. Anyone can pray anytime anywhere. Staff cannot facilitate and it can't be mandatory because of that pesky Constitution.
Guns are the problem.
2
First of all, I'd like to thank the NRA and all those whoe believe that the 2nd amendment was brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses.
To quote Frank Zappa:
Do you love it?
Do you hate it?
There it is, the way you made it.
Wow
4
I listen to some people at work. They have absolutely no empathy for these kids. All they want to do is drone on about their second amendment rights & how the kids needs to “stop eating Tide pods”. I’d like to see them do that in front of those grieving fathers. Obama was right, that side clings to guns & God.
18
Reading this reminded me of the bomb threats that were called in to my high school in the '70s. We all went out and stood on the football field while the police checked the buildings. We also had police escorts for our school bus because of threats by the either the Zodiac or Zebra killer. The 70's were a crazy time.
Now I work in a high school and have been in a lock down when a former student was reported to have a gun. He never came to campus and was supposedly texting kids at school during the incident.
We recently had a fire drill at school and some students were reluctant to come out of their classrooms.
4
The threat of being killed at school is damaging to kids. I have a middle schooler who was not able to sleep for a week after his school went on lockdown for an hour b/c a mysterious man was walking around the building. Luckily it was a false alarm but the kids are aware of the violence that has happened at other schools. How can they NOT be terrified?
11
These threats could have long-lasting effects on our children. Each child is different and will respond to such a situation differently. Some will be able to simply brush it off, while others may suffer true trauma and endure years of PTSD from a threat, let alone what those poor students and families/friends have suffered and will continue to suffer from an actual attack.
When i was in school ( 40 years ago), we had bomb threats and we all laughed to have a day off of school. None of them were serious. There was never any fear for our safety when we went to school. I can't imagine being in school today. The social and academic pressure are hard enough. And now, add to that fear for your life. What are we doing to our kids today and why? For an outdated second amendment right to own a musket??? Seriously, we need to do better and protect our children. School should be the one safe haven for them.
9
We are terrorizing a generation of children with these lockdowns. Fact is you're as likely to be hit by lightning as to die in a school shooting. But the consequences in a fearful generation are real.
2
What are the chances of a fire, tornado, or earthquake? Would you have schools not be prepared for these events because practicing for them might scare students? Would you have schools allow students to go out to recess during a lightning storm because the chances of actually being hit are very low? What safety precautions are "worth" taking and which are not? How many students need to die before we begin taking precautions? How would your perspective change if your child died in a school that didn't take precautions?
1
Easy to say except there was a lunatic with a gun at my child's school, so it seems those statistics are changing rapidly.
1
This is all a very simple strategy: take a young generation, terrorize them, make them paranoid, and reap a new generation of pathologically terrified gun owning reactionaries to defend the NRA's right to a black market for weapons of mass destruction.
13
What is wrong with people and shooting? It gains them nothing except publicity and they will end up in jail anyways, so whats the point?
The usual “point” of violence is uncontrollable rage, acted out without understanding, reason or compassion. I dont think these shooters have a rational point. They may appear calm but they are consumed with rage.
1
How depressing. We've entered some new place in our national lives wherein institutions of learning have become fortified buildings and students become learned in skills of self-preservation before they learn the skills of successful living.
And it is largely because of a distinct minority of Americans who refuse to allow practical restrictions on the purchase, owning, and use of firearms. For them, the loss of young people's lives is simply the cost of their unrestricted access to weaponry; a cost the are willing to pay.
7
...getting TIRED of living in fear
2
The proposed hardening of schools isn't the answer. There needs to be much more attention to traumatic effects on children's mental health and well being of turning schools into armed and guarded entities. Instead of arming teachers, etc., please look at strong examples of broader gun control laws that have been effective at reducing gun violence - including suicides and homicides - both at schools and elsewhere. For example, Connecticut has impressive stats following the implementation of gun laws there.
4
As a public middle school teacher, I have experienced lockdown drills and lockdowns due to actual threats. My middle schoolers are usually too immature to handle these lockdown drills. They laugh and giggle and can't sit still long enough, but our first lockdown drill after Parkland was different. I could tell they were scared even during the drill. I was too.
My son in Pre-K came home after a lockdown drill unable to process why in the middle of dance class his teacher had to turn off the lights, lock the door, and hide so no one could see him.
I can no longer believe that school is a safe place for kids. I can only hope that it is.
6
Because of the proliferation of guns in America, including weapons of war, all areas of society (e.g. schools, churches, concerts) are potential war zones. Kids are growing up with a constant lurking fear. Millions of parents live with a constant fear each day after they drop their kids off at school. All this, just so some people can own any kind of gun and any quantity of ammunition they choose. I think people are getting of living in fear.
4
I watched on the news last night that parents might scuttle plans for a beautiful, new local high school because there are too many windows so their kids might not be safe.
This is just some of the insanity the rest of us go through so a bunch of poor marksmen can shoot 120 rounds per minute.
Wealthiest nation in the world but we can't enjoy it because too many are out to senselessly destroy it.
14
AR-15s are absolutely the hoverrounds of weaponry. Good catch. But it isn't just so that some lazy marksperson doesn't have to aim - the NRA uses the "second amendment" as a means of keeping open their black market channels between the gun manufacturers that they represent and the narcotrafficantes, insurgents, failed states, etc. that provide a lucrative market for "collectors".
6
If you want to see visible evidence of the terror our children experience, watch the video of the police officer in full SWAT gear entering the classroom at Stoneman Douglas. A girl's raised hand begins shaking in terror. You can hear her crying. She cannot tell whether the gunman is saving her or impersonating an officer to come and kill them all. This is the "gift of fear" that we have given every child in every school -- private or public, from pre-K to graduate school -- in America.
23
More likely the reason she was terrified is because that was probably the first time she had ever been exposed to a gun. When you don't understand something then the fear becomes irrational.
1
It is not irrational to fear guns. They are literally designed to inflict violence and death.
3
How is it irrational? Guns are weapons and it was in the hands of a person "guns don't kill, people do."
Explain why her fear during a school shooting seems irrational to you.
I cannot comprehend how adults can willfully, deliberately put their children—CHILDREN —through these frightening experiences. All for the sake of their beloved AR15.
20
The Times coverage of the school shooting issue, as evidenced herein, is devoid of crucial context that is journalism's job #1, and so is intellectually dishonest. School shooting are *incredibly* rare. Students and staff are very safe from them, even in recent years. The NYT helps make the fear "real." The annual number killed *and* injured by guns in schools in the 5-1/4 years from Sandy Hook thru Parkland, including Sandy Hook, is about: 28 - students (K-12) 5 - staff. (Rates derived per Time magazine's recent detailed count since gun control advocates' numbers, i.e., Everytown for Gun Safety's, have been been shown to be inaccurate; http://time.com/5168272/how-many-school-shootings/ .) In comparison, for a recent year in this period (2014), the number of 5-to-14-year-olds *killed* -- one can't fold in high-schoolers because the next age-group is 15-24) was as follows: 1,480 - transportation accidents; 597 - non-transport accidents; 428 - suicide; 279 - homicide (173 by firearms); 41 - drug induced; 54 - flu; 45 - pneumonia. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_04.pdf A school kid is more than 100 times more likely to be killed in other ways, and more than 50 times more likely to be killed in a vehicular accident. Suicide, guns *not* in schools, drugs and drowning, flu, and even sports, *each* kills way more students than school shootings. (BTW, I'm *for* a near-total ban of semi-automatic firearms, which I think is consistent with the 2nd Amendment).
2
Yes, the article that Chris Wilson published in Time magazine emphasizes the importance of clear data on school shootings and states that "since 2013 we counted 6 adults and 35 children killed in these types of school shootings, as well as 12 adults and 92 children injured."
I agree that accurate data is critical since we cannot solve a problem without full understanding of that problem. However i question why a statement like "a school kid is more than 100 times more likely to be killed in other ways" (than by school shooting) is even an acceptable argument. I'd prefer to state, "No school kid should ever be killed by a gun." Full stop. Yes, sadly, car accidents, disease, other tragedies claiming young lives happen every day, but getting killed in school by a gun is not something that should be part of our world.
Thirty five children killed and 92 injured is 131 too many. And not to forget about the adults in the schools, 18 too many.
5
Useless comment, you should have stopped at dishonest. You would not be thinking about these numbers if they were your kids or you. More helpful would be numbers and connections behind NRA, politicians, corporations, non-profits... It is a sick way of living, unnecessary things ("toys") replacing relationships and real feelings. TV or Netflix are FULL of it. Kids, teenager and now even adults can't tell reality from fiction.
7
85 of all kids shot dead in first world countries are American kids. Guns and gun carnage are a blight on this country - a blight other countries don't suffer from because they control guns, fear guns and shut guns.
It's time to confront this sick fascination with guns. It's unhealthy and deadly. It's America's problem, nobody else's, and results in a 9/11-style death toll every 3 months. Risible attempts to mitigate this carnage by legislating MORE guns has demonstrably failed to work. Time to go in the other direction.
3
wondering if anyone knows why the students are told to stay off their cellphones
1
Generally because parents with good intentions flood the school. In a lock down having more people arriving on campus isn't what is needed. We had a bomb threat and lock down. Parents overwhelmed the school parking lot and made the entire situation worse. It's a completely understandable reaction, but it isn't helpful.
3
It is infuriating and ridiculous that young people should have to deal with this so that gun manufacturers can keep getting rich.
Money over everything - the American way.
Thankfully these people will bring their experiences to the voting booth soon, so soon, and we can hopefully start to fix this massive and pathetic problem.
7
Instead of math drills...this is what going to school has come to...
‘The thought of a possible shooting made me nauseous.’
2
As a teacher in Canada I am shocked at the level of general acceptance amongst the policy makers for having guns in schools. Wake up, America. You look less intelligent the longer these type of situations continue to arise , again and again . Such a beautiful country in so many ways yet so ugly at the same time . NRA 1- kids 0
12
Thank you. It feels like the country is being held hostage by the NRA.
1
What an awful predicament to be in, wanting to go to school, be educated in the facts of life, become a responsible citizen, seek solidarity in a just and peaceful society. Noble aims, shattered with a frightful regularity by our childish and stupid addiction to guns and the easy availability of the most efficient killing machines to date, which are a no-no in any civilized society. Not ours, I guess, where a gun lobby can hold hostages our republican political prostitutes into doing their bidding. Highly irresponsible and most dangerous to the lives of so many innocent victims. When will this stop? Do the politicians in power require the 'mowing' of a relative before taking action? Is there no shame?
4
Considering the fact that they made no moves to reevaluate our stance on guns after they themselves were the target of a madman with a gun, I'm going with no, they have no shame. None. Any they might once have had, they sold to the NRA ages ago.
3
Several US politicians have been attacked and seriously injured with guns recently, including the incident at the congressional baseball game. So not even shocking personal incidents have moved the dial. They are clearly immune and immovable. It's up to us to vote them out of office, and vote in people who understand protecting Americans requires moving to disarm them, not waging war on ME nations.
3
In the 1950's we hid under our desks and in closets to "protect" us in case of Nuclear attack. In the 20 teens our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are hiding under their desks and in closets to protect themselves from threats from being shot by young American men., carrying weapons of war. What's wrong with this picture?
6
I am very glad to see the Times address the impact that “mere threats” of gun violence during which “nothing happens” have on students. I am a high school teacher whose school was recently placed on lockdown for almost an hour in response to a threat that turned out later not to have been directed to our school, but spread like wildfire throughout the region via social media. It didn’t matter. For that hour, students, teachers and staff huddled in ignorance and fear of the worst. Questions about the effectiveness of school protocol abounded in the aftermath, and many were badly shaken. And yet “nothing happened”. Look at the texts in this article and try to tell me there was no trauma. It is high time that those who survive the terror of lockdowns, even ones with good endings, receive respect for their trauma and support in recovering from it. I assure you, something happened that day.
19
By the time my daughter finishes kindergarten, she and her fellow students will have had to take part in four lockdown drills. The fear is newly planted in her. It has matured in these high schoolers who have endured these drills for years. It is no wonder they are leading this backlash--and it's about time. Parents and children are tired of living in fear of a gun owner going wrong--whether they endanger kids accidentally or deliberatey. We are tired of living in fear so gun sellers can profit from selling human-killing weapons to anyone and everyone. Enough really is ENOUGH.
16
A co-worker has a 17yr old daughter who attends high school here in Scottsdale. About a week after Parkland, the fire alarms ran out in the school. Her daughter told her that almost every kid in her class burst into tears. Kids fear is real.
19
This is just so sad.
I am so glad to to see these young people speaking out and demonstrating about the toll that gun violence is taking on them. Perhaps they will be heard when their elders could not...
You really have to ask what kind of an education this is for our sons and daughters...
22
Here's a way to make congress understand the gravity of this situation. Conduct "gun violence drills" in congress. Let the "do nothing" weasels hide in their closets, fearing for their lives. Have congressmen & women do the "perp walk" where their hands are raised overhead indicating they're not the lunatic threatening our children's lives.
Earth to congress - this is not normal. This is not acceptable. I didn't plan to live in Mogadishu. I don't send my kids to school to serve as target practice for lunatics nor will I condone "so called" representatives that do nothing.
60
Henry. I agree but let's not forget congress has an armed police force protecting them. Our kids maybe get one resource officer and maybe not. I can get in my car right now and guarantee I can find schools that are not secure. You probably can too. I can definitely tell you these lockdown drills are not the answer. You are locked in a room as a sitting target. Essentially all schools offer now is faux security. Have spent 37 years in schools we need a multi faceted approach. No one act is going to improve the situation
5
Henry J, as awful as it sounds, maybe the parents of dead children should show their Congressional Reps the coroner's pix of what assault weapon bullets did to their children.
6
I want to know why people can't carry firearms into the Capitol or White House.
This is beginning to concern me... this, almost porn-like, media obsession with reveling in the intricate, ghastly details of human beings’ suffering. How many articles were put in front of us that described (in just enough salacious detail) the minutiae of women’s sexual harassment or assault? Now, how many of these articles are going to bombard our eyes?
Isn’t it enough to know that our children are being traumatized? Do we really have to dissect every prurient detail in order to be fully informed? Is the media updating us or just getting off on something very different?
7
Claudia Y., I understand your concern, which seems to me to be a very reasonable one—I agree that things can and do get overblown sometimes when article after article appears on exactly the same topic—but I don’t think that’s the case here at all. This is the first article I’ve ever read, to the best of my knowledge, on what seems to be the increasingly common phenomenon of schools repeatedly going into lockdown and students having to hide under desks, not in the context of mass shootings but because of ever-more-frequent threats. I was really lucky not to experience any of these while I was growing up, and I think it’s newsworthy that so many kids nowadays do have to undergo this...
7
Are you doing anything about gun violence? If it goes away, then the media won't have anything to cover. Same for sexual assault. Or you could be a bot.
4
"Isn’t it enough to know that our children are being traumatized?"
No, it's incumbent on us to act. Other countries responded forcefully to a single mass shooting (UK, Australia). We do nothing in response to frequent mass shootings. It's not acceptable.
12
My only issue with this piece is that the journalist interviewed mostly women. Why are there not more young men having their voices heard too? I thought the NY Times is about equality, but I don't see that happening here and in many of the other pieces I read on your publication.
4
Because most of the men they interviewed did not display enough fear/panic to push the article's narrative
I think it's 4 men vs 6 young women. That's hardly "mostly". And if it were "mostly" men, I don't think we would have noticed at all.
4
In the early 1960s, my elementary school was attacked by a suicide bomber, a mentally ill individual who killed and wounded several students and teachers. Growing up, we had the standard fire drills (exit the school, line up at the back fence), tornado drills (file into the halls and sit with back to wall), nuclear attack drills (same as tornado drill), and mad bomber drills. Every class was paired with a local homeowner, each class exited as fast as possible and went to their assigned house.
So, fire drills, tornado drills, nuclear attack drills and mad bomber drills. How does that not effect a child growing up?
13
I experienced lockdowns as a student twenty-five years ago at my rough high school and as a teacher at the same school six years later. The difference today is that we have the new threat of mass shooting. I was never worried as a student of a mass shooting. I knew that the lockdown was always drug or gang related and that I wasn't the target. Today's students worry that everyone is the target and every threat is taken seriously. We are looking at a possible change in public education in this country as school life can be put on hold with every phone call.
13
Terror? Really? Perhaps stressful but terror? Many of our words have lost their meanings.
3
I agree with you
1
Seriously? You don't think thinking you might be about to get shot is terrifying? Then what is?
They don't know it's not real until it's over.
2
They know it’s a drill. At least in my State. I’ve supervised them.
The voters that become of age in 2020 will be kids born after 9/11 they have known the problem their whole lives,and they will fix it.
6
Is this what we think of when we think about "American Exceptionalism"?
Students, teachers, staff hiding in closets, hoping not to get massacred by someone with an assault rifle?
Of arming teachers?
None of the other top industrialized nations have armed guards patrolling their schools.
Is this what we aspire to as a nation?
33
This article should be required reading for every member of Congress and every state legislator. I find it very ironic that immediately after a puppy is killed on United Airlines due to the stupidity of a flight attendant there is a bipartisan bill introduced into Congress to forbid putting pets in overhead bins. And yet our nation's most precious asset, our children, are exposed to repeated violent assaults and murders because those same Congresspersons are in owned (lock stock and barrel seems the appropriate phrase here) completely by the NRA. Trump likes to whine about the so-called 'deep state' and so do his Republican buddies, but the real 'deep state' appears to be the real source of power in this sad country, our Evil Overlords, the NRA.
49
Our politicians do not care about frightening children or putting the lives of children at risk. They care only about their beloved AR15.
4
I never experienced a lockdown drill when I was in school, but it's a matter of routine for my children. We did not have metal detectors at our school entrance, but many schools now have them. Any armed teacher at a school would have been fired for posing a danger to the students, but instead of reducing the accessibility to weapons, many legislators and our dear leader are claiming that armed teachers, and therefore more guns, will keep our children safe. That logic has not worked so far.
17
Lockdown drills are not just for the high schoolers, but the younger kids as well. If a suspicious person is seen walking near the school, our school goes on lockdown. This happens multiple times a year. And with each school shooting, our district doubles down on every possible security measure. Parents have less access to the school now and less opportunity to be a part of the school community. Guards, locks, intercoms, cameras, bullet proof glass stand as barriers to a once thriving community. Parents are fearful. They call for even more security measures since they know they can't do anything about the guns. Our school is able to block children from bringing in a peanut butter sandwich because of allergies, but when it comes to guns is powerless. As a parent of children that are in high school and elementary, I have seen a tremendous change just in the last few years in the growth of fear and security measures. The trauma for these children is real and long lasting.
41
I’m a teacher. Yesterday, I had to pull over on the way home because I was crying. We have had a second threat at my school from the same student.
The first time, all the security measures failed and the kid walked through the front door. They took him to the hospital, after the fact, where he was released (the hospital that always releases children because they only have an adult psychiatric ward) to his parents. Cops took guns from his house.
We had another threat from him yesterday. He told a different student, this time, that he still has access to a gun and he’s going to come and kill people. Specific staff were mentioned. A specific timeline was given. But unless the kid he told is willing to make a signed statement, they won’t do anything. There’s no lockdown planned. School hasn’t been cancelled today. Maybe there will be a deputy there. (At which entrance? They chose incorrectly last time.) Most staff members don’t know about the threat.
I am nauseous. How do I not tell my friends and colleagues? How do I go in and teach? How, simply, do I go in?
60
Dear God! So is this the Reality of “school readiness and preparation?” Why is that kid still enrolled? Why isn’t he locked up under care - somewhere! This is the best they can do?
Any kid that does this twice is not stable, and has forfeited their right to remain free and clear, or at home. Why wouldn’t their parent want them where they can get real help? “No room” is not an excuse!
It’s way too late, after the parents get a call from the Police saying their kid just killed twelve, and wounded eight more - and that his body is at the morgue for identification.
1