Thank you Ciera. I'm a recently retired jr. high teacher who has experienced the cycle of 'appropriate training & drills' along with a thousand students over the years. My students said they 'want to be in your class if a shooter comes, because you have all those tools and stuff'. We've lost students and former students to murders in the street, and in prison as murderers, along with suicides of despair. yet our school and town are a strong community, as towns go. I'm quite sure that this 'poorest town in the county' cannot find a place in mind or heart to comprehend why a president thinks a ballroom is somehow a response to violence. The disconnect is extraordinary. We allow it. What happened to the old ethos 'the captain is the last to leave the ship" ? I believe, and I pray, that you and other people who have had to internalize the reality of intense gun violence (students, teachers, parents, gathering places stained with blood) will grow in strength and beauty. Your voice is like that already.
Jeffrey, what an unnecessary burden we put on our teachers, who should be our educators, not security guards. Thank you for your service as a teacher and for your kind words. May we break this political impasse and finally take safeguarding our people seriously.
The job description has broadened... and probably should. Schools are certainly our de facto child care providers ( a joke is that teachers would make more money if they were paid by child rather than a salary). But it still remains, at its best, a special relationship for children and adults. Focusing on that, with the 'education' being a fairly natural add on of a safe, fun, learning community, can be a useful model. I had a 12 year old boy show me a 12 inch knife he brought to school. What was he thinking?? He was a very excitable boy, not a rule follower.... looking it over, I explained why I needed to keep it, safe & safely. Later, it was figured out that he was absolutely qualified for our Special Day class, with a one-to-one teacher most of the time. He came back to my class for Science, and in his own special way, he flourished. In a darker way, it's a long process to build trust so that children/teens will come to adults with knowledge of guns or threats.... 'not being rats'. So our society needs to use ... wisdom..
Great article. Wish I could say it's going to get better in the future, but as long a even Democratic politicians accept money from various and sundry gun nut organizations, nothing will ever change in this country. The wild west is alive and well everywhere in these United States.
I had a 5’11” 3rd grade teacher friend. I would become nauseated everytime she told me about shooter drills. Then my mind would race, hide silently or run, 3rd grade, sweet baby first graders. Omg. And at 5’11” who would get shot first and the most? I don’t feel safe in my front yard, the grocers and I certainly barely go to public events. In my school days, one alarm bell for a tornado - head to the hallway and crouch, two alarm bells for a nuclear bomb, crouch under your desk (like that was going to do any good). Yet all those inverted triangle were on every building. My mother was a principal at a school that had consolidated after the 100 yr flood followed by the 500 year food and there were trailers all over the place housing three elementary schools. Then came the tornado warning. She was about to hit the alarm for the entire school when the power disappeared. All the cars’ windows imploded as well as the major school building. Luckily the alarm had not sounded or else the trailer occupants would have been in the school field area.?Mother called her adult children who were close by and other friends and organized buses to get every child home, many of which had been destroyed so she figured out out how to get families to shelters in the destroyed neighborhood. Meals were provided as long as there were students and provisions were available. The floods had delayed her doctoral thesis and design for a couple of years and the the tornado added to that. What a disaster. Everybody survived and made it to home or a shelter eventually AND mother got her doctorate at 60 yrs of age. She wasn’t going to be outdone by her daughter. :)
I was an emergency manager for Portland Public Schools and trained students and staff ages 4 to 70 in active shooter drills. We had to do it at the beginning of the school year because it is so high stakes. So our kindergarten kids had this as one of their first school experiences, along with learning to take turns and share the crayons.
I lost my job due to budget cuts. And it broke my heart because I felt like at least I could do something to help keep our community safe.
Beatrice, you absolutely made your community safer, and I know your lessons live on in this scary world. Thank you for safeguarding our children, you -- and they -- deserve better than the budget cuts.
"horrific?" Please. Uvalde was horrific. Sandy Hook was horrific. Parkland was horrific. Las Vegas was horrific. The Pulse nightclub was horrific. The WHCD was scary. That's it. Stop with the hyperbole.
Hi Nancy, I agree that the shootings you named are beyond descriptors. Additionally, as someone who has just written about her personal experience with a school shooting, I stand by the use of "horrific." Being surrounded by unidentified gun shots while throwing yourself on the floor as people scream "SHOOTER!" is horrific. I think immediately of the attendees who suffer from PTSD and are survivors of gun violence themselves. Those moments aren't "jump scare in a horror movie." It was horrific for the audience and for those at home trying to get in touch with their loved ones unsure if they were okay or not. Many things can be true at once and I try to avoid comparative pain when I can. Regardless of what one may think about the night itself, I pray no one has to be in a situation where they fear for their lives.
Thank you Ciera. I'm a recently retired jr. high teacher who has experienced the cycle of 'appropriate training & drills' along with a thousand students over the years. My students said they 'want to be in your class if a shooter comes, because you have all those tools and stuff'. We've lost students and former students to murders in the street, and in prison as murderers, along with suicides of despair. yet our school and town are a strong community, as towns go. I'm quite sure that this 'poorest town in the county' cannot find a place in mind or heart to comprehend why a president thinks a ballroom is somehow a response to violence. The disconnect is extraordinary. We allow it. What happened to the old ethos 'the captain is the last to leave the ship" ? I believe, and I pray, that you and other people who have had to internalize the reality of intense gun violence (students, teachers, parents, gathering places stained with blood) will grow in strength and beauty. Your voice is like that already.
Jeffrey, what an unnecessary burden we put on our teachers, who should be our educators, not security guards. Thank you for your service as a teacher and for your kind words. May we break this political impasse and finally take safeguarding our people seriously.
The job description has broadened... and probably should. Schools are certainly our de facto child care providers ( a joke is that teachers would make more money if they were paid by child rather than a salary). But it still remains, at its best, a special relationship for children and adults. Focusing on that, with the 'education' being a fairly natural add on of a safe, fun, learning community, can be a useful model. I had a 12 year old boy show me a 12 inch knife he brought to school. What was he thinking?? He was a very excitable boy, not a rule follower.... looking it over, I explained why I needed to keep it, safe & safely. Later, it was figured out that he was absolutely qualified for our Special Day class, with a one-to-one teacher most of the time. He came back to my class for Science, and in his own special way, he flourished. In a darker way, it's a long process to build trust so that children/teens will come to adults with knowledge of guns or threats.... 'not being rats'. So our society needs to use ... wisdom..
The NRA hides behind the Constitution and pays Congress enough to keep legislation off the table. Of course, there is more to it.
Exactly, even though the Constitution was written during the times of muskets, not automatic assault weapons. $$$ corrupts in Congress.
Great article. Wish I could say it's going to get better in the future, but as long a even Democratic politicians accept money from various and sundry gun nut organizations, nothing will ever change in this country. The wild west is alive and well everywhere in these United States.
Thank you, and sadly, I agree…
I had a 5’11” 3rd grade teacher friend. I would become nauseated everytime she told me about shooter drills. Then my mind would race, hide silently or run, 3rd grade, sweet baby first graders. Omg. And at 5’11” who would get shot first and the most? I don’t feel safe in my front yard, the grocers and I certainly barely go to public events. In my school days, one alarm bell for a tornado - head to the hallway and crouch, two alarm bells for a nuclear bomb, crouch under your desk (like that was going to do any good). Yet all those inverted triangle were on every building. My mother was a principal at a school that had consolidated after the 100 yr flood followed by the 500 year food and there were trailers all over the place housing three elementary schools. Then came the tornado warning. She was about to hit the alarm for the entire school when the power disappeared. All the cars’ windows imploded as well as the major school building. Luckily the alarm had not sounded or else the trailer occupants would have been in the school field area.?Mother called her adult children who were close by and other friends and organized buses to get every child home, many of which had been destroyed so she figured out out how to get families to shelters in the destroyed neighborhood. Meals were provided as long as there were students and provisions were available. The floods had delayed her doctoral thesis and design for a couple of years and the the tornado added to that. What a disaster. Everybody survived and made it to home or a shelter eventually AND mother got her doctorate at 60 yrs of age. She wasn’t going to be outdone by her daughter. :)
I was an emergency manager for Portland Public Schools and trained students and staff ages 4 to 70 in active shooter drills. We had to do it at the beginning of the school year because it is so high stakes. So our kindergarten kids had this as one of their first school experiences, along with learning to take turns and share the crayons.
I lost my job due to budget cuts. And it broke my heart because I felt like at least I could do something to help keep our community safe.
Beatrice, you absolutely made your community safer, and I know your lessons live on in this scary world. Thank you for safeguarding our children, you -- and they -- deserve better than the budget cuts.
Sensitivity and sensibility do not exist in our culture anymore. It all begins there.
100% this.
The US of A is the only country in the world where children have "active shooter" drills.
Truly disheartening....
"horrific?" Please. Uvalde was horrific. Sandy Hook was horrific. Parkland was horrific. Las Vegas was horrific. The Pulse nightclub was horrific. The WHCD was scary. That's it. Stop with the hyperbole.
Hi Nancy, I agree that the shootings you named are beyond descriptors. Additionally, as someone who has just written about her personal experience with a school shooting, I stand by the use of "horrific." Being surrounded by unidentified gun shots while throwing yourself on the floor as people scream "SHOOTER!" is horrific. I think immediately of the attendees who suffer from PTSD and are survivors of gun violence themselves. Those moments aren't "jump scare in a horror movie." It was horrific for the audience and for those at home trying to get in touch with their loved ones unsure if they were okay or not. Many things can be true at once and I try to avoid comparative pain when I can. Regardless of what one may think about the night itself, I pray no one has to be in a situation where they fear for their lives.
I can appreciate that.