School Lockdown

 The high school had a scary incident this week.  A student had taken a photo of a fake grenade with a "let's blow up the school" text.  The photo was sent to lots of students and a teacher was finally made aware, which promoted a total lock down.  The police were called and it was treated as a credible bomb threat until proven otherwise.

At the beginning, nobody really knew was what going on.  There were lots of rumors and kids were scared.  Aiden's class locked and barricaded the door and then were told to sit quietly.  Kids downstairs were also moving tables and making loud noises which several kids mistook for gunshots.  Aiden had a working phone so he was able to text me updates.  

Sydney was in the library preparing to leave campus for the day (she leaves early each day), when a principal comes running in and yelling at everyone to get in the closet and hide because this was not a drill.  So, her and about 20 other students sat in a small, dark room with the librarian.  Her phone couldn't get reception in this room so I had no idea where she was for several hours.  At one point, an administrator tried to get another student into this room. He rattled the door knob for a minute before getting his keys.  The kids had no idea who was trying to get in until the door was opened.  

After about two hours, the police arrested and questioned a few students.  They started evacuating students one room at a time and putting them on busses to the district auditorium.  They couldn't bring their backpacks or get their cars.  They could only take their phones. 

A police officer tried to enter the room in the library.  He was banging on the door yelling but the librarian, following protocol, would only answer to administration.  After a few intense minutes of his yelling and banging, the librarian yelled, "I am Mrs. ?? and I am in here with 19 other students."  With that information, the officer went and got an administration to open the door and they evacuated her group.

After about 3 hours, we were told to go pick up our kids at the auditorium (which took almost 2 hours).  I felt so much relief to see and hug my kids. 

At the end of the day, there was no real danger.  It was all fake.  But, the terror was real.  It was terrifying for me to not be able to get ahold of Sydney.  It was terrifying when Aiden said he heard gunshots.  It was terrifying for Sydney to be in that room, with someone trying to enter and not knowing if it was help or danger.  The kids acted like they were fine.  They both said it was just boring.  But, after hearing their stories, I can only imagine their fear.  Even  if it was brief and unfounded, it was still intense fear for all our us.

Later that night, Sydney was able to go get the car from the school parking lot.  She had a panic attack on the way home.  I sent both kids to school the next day not wanting to make it all a bigger deal.  Hardly anybody showed up to school and nobody was teaching anything so they both came home at lunch.

Here is what I posted on Facebook that evening:

My kid’s high school was in lockdown today for over three hours. My daughter was leaving campus when it happened and got put into the library where they all hid in a closet with the librarian. She had no reception and so she could not call or text me. I didn’t know where she was for several hours. Thankfully, Aiden could text and kept me up to date and informed about what was going on at the school.

Turns out, some kids thought it would be funny to bring/show a fake grenade to school and say they were going to blow up the school.

Although it was not a “real” danger, it makes me want to hug my kids a little longer.

So grateful they are safe and home again.

So sad that some parents had to go pick up their child at the police station because they made some poor choices.

So grateful for police officers who ran into the school to protect our kids even though they didn’t know what they would find.

So sad that this is even an issue. Growing up, we never had shootings or lockdown drills. We never felt unsafe at school. But today was a reminder that the world is a different place now.