What if...

One of the most difficult things to deal with in education today is the fear children have of an active shooter in their school. Sadly, this is a very real threat, and one for which we must prepare. Even kindergarteners know that if we have a lockdown we must hide in our classrooms and be silent. 

Life in the cottage brings new challenges to me as an educator when I think about the possibility of such an awful thing happening. In the past when students were worried or frightened, I would tell them things like our door is always locked; the walls are made of concrete and have lockers outside them, so bullets can't get through; I will do whatever I have to to protect you. More than once I've lain awake at night thinking about the what ifs.

Yesterday my students were working in small groups, and the temperature was a comfortable 80º outside. They asked if they could sit outside on the ramp to our room and work. There was no reason not to, so we did. I sat near a group of girls who were working and talking. Their conversation got around to all the drills we must practice throughout the year. Where would we go for bad weather? Where would we go for fire drill? What would we do in case of an active shooter? I answered their questions and told them that I have given the active shooter question some serious thought. 

Our school policy is to hide in our rooms out of site with the door locked. And we could do that, but now instead of concrete walls with lockers protecting us, we have sheet metal and maybe a little insulation. I told the girls I thought maybe we could rip up the floor (we're the last portable in a line of four and we'd probably hear anyone coming and have a little time) and we could hide in the crawl space underneath. Chances are a shooter would assume we were  in the building rather than under it. They thought that was possible, but wondered about me getting in trouble for messing up the building. We determined a better option would be to run for the woods behind our school. They decided that we must zig-zag as we run in order to make it harder for the shooter to get a good aim, and we'll all meet up in the neighborhood on the other side.

I love my kids. They are so real, so thoughtful. It makes me sad that they are growing up in a world where the concern that someone might come into their school and kill someone is real. It makes me furious that legislators and politicians can't see the fear these children have and don't do anything to make it better. They should ask a middle schooler how to fix it. They have an amazing ability to see things for what they truly are. One of my wise ones has come up with a brilliant way to let people keep their guns, but make things safer for the rest of us... make ammunition as expensive as prescription drugs. I'm glad my future will be in their hands!