The Suburbs Aren't As Boring As We All Think

Time:  This afternoon, exactly 2:03pm.

Scene:  I am in my classroom with 26 kindergarteners, trying hard to teach the words to a song they will sing for their kindergarten graduation next month.  We are 18 minutes into class, and most are doing a pretty good job, as this is the "good" class.  (Thank God for small miracles.)

Then:  An all-call across the building, and my assistant principal's voice:  "We are going into an internal lockdown mode."  Then nothing.

I lock my door, turn off one of my lights (my room has no windows, and I didn't have a flashlight, so there was no way I was turning off all of them!), and move my little ones to the far corner of my room, out of the line of sight of my door window.  I instruct them to sit close together and to not speak.  And to my disbelief, they did it.  I let them know that this was most likely a drill, told them quickly that we do this for practice in case our building is unsafe, and this was to protect us.  Then, we were silent.

Five minutes later, we were still sitting there.

So, I talked (quietly, as you are supposed to remain completely silent during a lock-down) again as to why we practiced this, answered a few questions, and then we practiced being quiet again.

This went on for just over 30 minutes.

About 7 minutes in, I realized that this was not a drill, that we were in a real lock-down, and that I could not hear a sound in the building.  Remarkably, my mind did not race to the potentially awful things that could be happening just outside the door as to why we were on lock-down.  I then told myself that it had to be a medical lock-down - that someone was hurt and the paramedics needed access to the building.  Of course, they usually announce that it would be a medical lock-down if that was the case, but I told myself that my assistant principal was new, and that maybe she forgot that part.  Still, I heard nothing in the halls, and my students continued to sit silently - even the kid that is NEVER quiet.

At 2:35, the principal came across and let us know we could resume normal teaching, but we were to remain inside classrooms.  As a specialist teacher, my classes change every 25 minutes, which wasn't happening today.  So, in went "Fantasia' for a while, we danced and sang, and played games until at 3:05 (five minutes before the end of the school day) we were given the all-clear.  An e-mail sent immediately following let us know that there was a situation in the community close to our building, and the police had instructed us to go into lockdown mode for our own safety.

We got all of the kids back to class, safely on their buses, and I then found out what had happened - someone had robbed the bank next to our school and then ran through the large grassy area by our school to escape into the apartments across the street.  The cops flooded the apartment complex, and eventually napped the suspect.  The phy ed teacher was outside with his class and actually saw the suspect run across the field.  For a man who is a speedy runner, the phy ed teacher said this guy was booking it, bag in hand and all.

Oh. My. Goodness.  What a day.  I was so proud of my kindergarteners (who were afraid someone was in the building and was going to steal something - you have to admire their innocence) and for all of the teachers and staff who acted quickly and safely.

It will certainly be one of those teaching days that you always remember!  I just hope tomorrow will be a little more calm.