A few weeks ago we got a call from our daughter that guns at my granddaughter’s Illinois high school had been found. The police were there and the school was on lockdown until students were eventually sent home. School would be closed for 3 weeks and there would be remote learning again while they figured out how to keep guns out of the school and also what to do about the recent COVID surge.
This brought memories back for me when Laurie Dann went into an elementary school, shot and killed a boy and shot several other students before killing herself.
All the schools in the area went on high alert trying to figure out how to prevent this from happening again. We ended up with a buzzer system so you’d have to buzz the office to let you in. But nothing is foolproof.
I remember one (sort of) funny thing where we were briefly told that the code phrase “There will be a volley ball game for all teachers after school,” would be the alert that there was a shooter or whatever in the school. Well… when the code phrase was used as a drill, some teachers came out of their classroom asking, “What volleyball game?”
I had to prepare my 1st grade class for the remote possibility that should something like that happen to us, they would have to hunker down, hide and do what I say immediately. I assured them that I would lock the door so nobody could come in.
Hmmmm…. So…. I said, “Well, you really don’t have to worry. I’m a grown up and I will always take care of you and protect you so you will be safe.”
Amazingly, they believed me and were reassured. But would children be reassured these days? This happened about 30 years ago. Since then, how many school shootings have there been? How many children have died? Do we have better gun control laws?
Nope. Guns have only proliferated.
And then there's Omicron running rampant everywhere and we still have too many leaders who keep fighting mandating vaccines or mask wearing.
It’s an insane world we are living in. Here’s hoping and hoping that 2022 shows more improvement.
Times are distressing. Our schools may not re-open for a few weeks due to O.
ReplyDeleteI was teaching when the Beltway sniper roamed the Washington Area. We had to keep blinds down and no kids outside for PE or recess. Everyone was on the lookout for a white panel truck and sightings of such put everyone on high alert. I don't think in the end that they used a truck at all. We also had tornado drills - into the hallway for cover, and then drills that took us outside faraway from the school unlike fire drills. Don't know now what that drill was unless it was for a bomb scare. I think after I retired in 2010 that drills probably were added for active shooter situations. Too scary.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the gun situation and the majority of Americans gun owners included agree that laws should be more restrictive. Unfortunately the gun lobby overrides the will of the people and controls too many in COngress.
Had to smile at the teachers wondering "what volleyball game."
ReplyDeleteFoolishly I was surprised that you had to prepare for school shootings 30 years ago. I did a little research and they have been going on since the 1700's. Yikes. When I was in school we practiced duck and cover under our desks like that would help in an Atomic bomb attack. What the kids today face is more real and eminent. Come on law makers, do something.
In spite of it all, happy new year to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting "quiet alert" method to tell school teachers about a shooter in the building. (Love your classroom photo, with the one kid in the class who picks his nose....)
ReplyDeleteFor most hospitals "Code Black," as in a gun usually being black, is the signal for a possible or active shooter in the building. Had one upset, violent family member, who was livid that his cancer-ridden mom died. He went to his car in the parking lot, and came back with a gun. Security states nurses to protect themselves only in such situations. I hid behind a wall, then realized a bullet could go right through it. The Chaplin calmed the situation down. I wish civilian guns were banned. Linda in Kansas
Gosh! That reminds me of that young girl getting shot and killed in a dressing room by that stray police bullet in Los Angeles.
DeleteThe scary thing for me at the time was that my room was closest to the backdoor of the school. I was at a teacher workshop the following night and one of the teachers who was at that school joined us. She described the terror of holding bleeding child on her lap while in hiding in the bathroom.
That's an awful event to have to go through; something WAY beyond a teacher's duties. So sad.
DeleteThe son of a friend of mine and your granddaughter evidently attend the same school. This sort of incident is almost impossible to prevent. It was already illegal for him to have a gun and yet his parents willingly bought it for him and evidently made it possible for him to take it to school. He was already being disciplined for something else but yet allowed to remain in school when he evidently decided to shoot others.
ReplyDeleteBack when I was young, there were still school shootings but they rarely were publicized outside of local news so those of us living in other areas, never knew about them until the internet and searching software were available. Ignorance was bliss as the saying goes. I wish my children could have that bliss that I had.
I have a grand daughter who wants to teach elementary school but is afraid of gun violence. It's actually everywhere and not just in our schools-at supermarkets, drive throughs, etc. Life is scary these days but you can't live that way.
ReplyDeleteMy sister teaches 4th grade in Oregon and they have drills but the newly built building has waist high glass window walls inside and no closets just shelves. It's just crazy. I;m with Linda in Kansas, no civilian guns.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem to be so easy to eliminate the gun problem but somehow or other it's not. What a stimulating classroom! All kids are listening to you very intently.
ReplyDeleteI read a sarcastic comment the other day which brought tears to my eyes: "Let's take a moment to appreciate all the children who lay down their lives for your right to bear arms." Heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteIt seems there was always violence of some kind even back then, strangely reasssuring that we may come through it all, most of us anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely a different world when I went to school. I can hardly fathom all the possible hazards a student faces these days. Not to mention all of us on the streets where guns proliferate. That was a smart kid who asked you that question. I wonder what she grew up to be? :-)
ReplyDeleteKay I loved that photo of you with your students, what a great looking classroom! It breaks my heart though that today's kids have to contend with this madness because our country has run amuck with lunatics and firearms. I know about the drills and such as my niece is a junior in high school. PS. I've been reading everything I could find on Laurie Dann, I'm amazed I never heard of her before. What a nightmare that was!
ReplyDeleteI've said it many times before: If nothing changed after Sandy Hook, it's not going to. My friends in Education tell me that behavior is worse than ever before, no consequences and many threats of violence. Too many parents for whatever reason(s) aren't parenting, they're enabling and working against any rules or school personnel. It's disheartening. I can't even think about disruptions to everything because of Omicron; I'm so tired of it all. I hope that it passes through quickly. That's the only thing I can wish for since so many people want to ignore the whole pandemic and any safety precautions.
ReplyDeleteI do like the photograph you with your students.
ReplyDeleteSending my good wishes to you and yours ...
All the best Jan
We did lock down drills in our classrooms 20 or more years ago. Now it seems to be even a more real possibility that a shooter would get into your school. I have no answer to the gun proliferation. Everything I think makes sense gets vetoed.
ReplyDeleteThere were guns and drills in the local, affluent high school my grandchildren attended. This genie never will go back in the bottle.
ReplyDeleteWe are safe until we are not. It is scary out there.
ReplyDeleteYou knew exactly what to say. Amazing how few today seem to
ReplyDeleteWell, good for you for making your kids feel safe. Down with guns!
ReplyDeleteIf Sandy Hook wasn't going to be enough to make America really deal with its gun problem, nothing ever will.
ReplyDelete