After a small panic attack, I realized the school was entering perimeter lockdown mode, which is not the lights-off-and-hide type, but the no-entering-or-exiting-the-building type. This is certainly far less scary, but it still meant there was a security concern on school property. This type of lockdown allows you to carry on with your day as planned, but does not allow any person to enter or exit the building (which was really only an issue for the enrichment teacher who teaches in a portable). Fortunately for me, my class was at the library during this time so I was alone with my mentor teacher in the classroom. I had an opportunity to speak openly with her about what was happening as it was happening since the students were not around. It was definitely comforting to me to have her explaining what she knew about the situation, but I can only imagine what would have happened if we had been in the middle of instruction. There were police cars in front of the building that were clearly visible out the window of half of the classrooms in the building. (Note: it was an issue with a parent and it was resolved about a half an hour later with no issues!)
It was definitely scary to
have a reminder of how real this all is. Luckily for us, there was no real
immediate danger to the students or the faculty, but there was a threatening
situation that made the principal and administration uncomfortable. It's so sad
that this is such a prevalent issue in our world now, but I am glad I was able
to see the procedures and the effectiveness of the organized planning. It was a
crazy day!
I, unfortunately, had to deal with this situation on my own. My mentor teacher was absent and I was with a sub and I will openly admit that I got pretty nervous pretty quickly! I went through a perimeter lockdown when I was in high school because there was an armed robbery in the neighborhood right next to my school. So as soon as the principal came over the loud speaker, I immediately thought about that day. My students even got a little spooked when they realized it was not a drill. Nevertheless, I calmed myself quickly and then explained to them that it couldn't possibly be thaaat serious because it was only a perimeter lockdown. If something so unbelievably terrible was going on, we'd be in a real hide-and-be-quiet lockdown.
ReplyDeleteThe guidance counselor came and explained to me what this "perimeter lockdown" meant, but nobody explained to me what had actually happened to cause it until the next day! My mentor teacher was surprised that nobody had told me and finally explained what happened. I think this is great practice for us, although it was an unfortunate situation. We are now fully aware of the procedures and will know exactly what to do if it were to happen again.
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ReplyDeleteThose can be scary, but I am glad your teacher was prepared. Good work in a tough situation!
ReplyDeleteI'm at the same placement, and also had to deal with this lockdown. It was definitely a little alarming not knowing the procedures in advance. I recall the times we had lockdown's in my high school, and the 'warning call' was "The Mule Is In The Building". This warning call was definitely a little more comical sounding, which actually made it easier for everyone to relax and abide by the procedures without panicking.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, one of the most uncomfortable parts of the situation was that the teachers were more interested in talking about what was going on than the students. Everyone wanted to know why the police were there, and what was going on, etc. The drama seemed to be a bigger deal for the staff than my kindergarteners.
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