Most of you who read this blog are already aware of the events at the Northampton Area Senior High School this morning. A senior boy managed to sneak a rifle into the building this morning in a guitar case. He was found sitting in one of the stair wells with the rifle on his lap and was smoking a cigarette. One of the teachers smelled smoke and looked in the stairwell and found him sitting there. It apparently took police about forty minutes until they managed to get the gun away from him.
The school was immediately put into a lockdown. Initially the students were told it was a drill, but soon they were told that there was a definite situation and they needed to evacuate the building and proceed to the football field.
I learned of this situation this morning as I got to the elementary school that I volunteer at on Thursdays. I was walking down the hallway and heard one of the first grade teachers say that the high school was in lockdown. I don't know this teacher very well, but asked her anyway what was going on. At that point, they had heard that a student had taken an asst. principal hostage and was holding that person at gunpoint. That eventually turned out to be not true.
You can't imagine the thoughts that ran through my mind at that moment. It is a horrible feeling not knowing what is going on and whether your child is safe and secure.
Thank goodness for cell phones! (And I think we'll be adding text messaging soon...LOL!!) The teachers where Alyssa was, initially told the kids if they saw any of them using cell phones they would confiscate them. But by the time they got out to the football field, everyone was using them. It was sooo good to hear Alyssa's voice! It was wonderful being able to keep in touch from that point on.
I guess I have mixed feelings about the kids using their cell phones. I was thrilled to be able to hear from Alyssa and know that she was all right. But I also wonder how many rumors traveled around via cell phones. And believe me I heard quite a few of them!
The other issue that concerned me was that the mother of a friend of a friend signed Alyssa out so she could come home. I have heard this girl's name mentioned, but I have never met her or her mother. I was in touch with Alyssa and knew this was the plan and I was OK with her coming home and appreciated the fact that this mother was willing to sign her out, BUT.....
Each year at the beginning of school, we fill out these emergency pick-up forms which lists those people we would allow to pick up our kids. Those are the only people who are supposed to be able to sign them out. I am concerned that should this situation have turned out much worse and kids needed to be accounted for, or a child needed to be located, there may have been problems with allowing anyone to sign a child out.
Suppose Alyssa hadn't been in touch with me and this woman had signed her out, and Alyssa had gone home. Then I decide to go pick her up and she is no where to be found. It would have been very tense until it would have been figured out where she was.
As it was, this mom signed Alyssa's friend out and Alyssa was going to take her home. As they were walking in the parking lot, they noticed her dad walking across the parking lot. Had Alyssa and her friend left a little bit earlier, they might not have seen her dad. He was coming to sign her out. Can you imagine his concern when he couldn't find his daughter? (And in this situation, she had forgotten her cell phone at home and didn't have her dad's cell phone number memorized, so she hadn't talked to him to alert him of her plans...) Fortunately, they saw each other in the parking lot.
I realize that it must have been very difficult to keep 2000 students contained and then released in an orderly fashion and I'm sure they tried their best, but I hope that they review the events that transpired and their action plans and learn from their mistakes.
I must also say that I heard varying stories...my friend's daughter was NOT allowed to be signed out by anyone but a parent. Others were told if they had their own car they were allowed to leave. So it may have depended on which exit you were trying to leave from! But that would be a perfect example that there needs to be consistency and uniformity.
Looking back on it today, I am thankful that there was a peaceful resolution to this crisis and that no one was hurt. I would ask that we keep this boy's family in our prayers at this difficult time for them. And remember to tell your kids you love them!!
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