Thursday, March 06, 2008

Another Day

Thanks to everyone for all of their support and positive words. I started this off as a comment and it eventually turned into a post on it's own.

It took me awhile to comprehend it myself yesterday. When I first got the phone call, it was like at first I didn't understand and then the panic took hold. For fifteen minutes, I had no idea how bad the situation was. Thankfully (even though it still angers me to no end) it seems to have been a false alarm.

There's been a lot of media coverage on school shootings in the news lately. In Peoria we've had two lock downs since last week and then there were the NIU shootings. Nonstop media coverage and we wonder where kids are getting the idea from. Only in yesterday's situation at Ashley's school, it's being said now that a parent called it in and that 4 individuals were questioned but nothing came of it. That is unacceptable to me - someone should be held accountable and I really hope they get to the bottom of this.

On the flip side though, our school handled it very well. Ashley said that the principal made an announcement that the school was going into lock down and within seconds, everyone was in position. She said at first no one knew what was going on and thought that maybe it was another practice drill. After a half hour passed, they started thinking it was real but didn't feel like they were in any danger. For the next hour they sat in their corner talking quietly with friends until the all clear was announced.

I do feel confident that were this a real life threatening situation, or if one were to arise in the future, that our kids would be safe and taken care of. That's what gave me the strength to send her back today.

4 comments:

Author said...

I'm relieved to hear your school has very good planning in place. Even though the event is scary, at least it showed that the school knows how to properly handle the situation.

I agree with you on the media thing. It's ridiculous! Like after 9/11, the media started going on and on about the different ways we could be attacked -- including Anthrax. And then what happens? Idiots in our own country start sending Anthrax in the mail.

I hope they get to the bottom of this threat. I know I'd be nervous until the culprit was discovered. So glad nothing came of this scare!

MamaFlo said...

Children should not have to worry about crazy lunatics, they should be able to grow up happy and carefree (yeah I know, it's never going to happen).
Better safe than sorry but it's still a shame.

maggie said...

Still just glad everyone is OK, but probably understandably still jittery. Crazy world.

Mz Diva said...

I am glad I work at a really small school, but anything can happen at any time. I work with students at-risk of dropping out and usually the worse the economy gets, the more dangerous the world becomes. It is sad that the world has turned into such a crazy place! Once I was in a district wide lock-down when some guys who were robbing a bank fled and were running down the street with AK-47 assault weapons! We had to sit in the classrooms for like two or three hours just waiting for the situation to clear. One thing for sure is, the kids are usually safter in a lock-down enviornment than out on the streets.