Staying Up Late - a Teacher Reflects on 25 Years of Guns in Classrooms
Last night I stayed up late watching the documentary Parkland: Inside Building 12, something I found just before bedtime while I was streaming surfing. My husband asked me today why I stayed up so late. I told him that I was just not able to stop watching. He didn't understand.
Just now I watched the Active Shooter Safety Training video for my university. I imagine many of my colleagues did not even notice the email saying we should watch it. It references the Parkland shooter.I was in a high school classroom as a first year teacher the day after Columbine. My school implemented "Code C" emergency response drills shortly thereafter. My classroom had a full wall of windows that ended in an emergency exit on the first floor. I remember thinking, "There is nowhere to hide." Columbine changed everything.
My own children were in kindergarten the day of Sandy Hook. I saw the news on my social media feed. I left my computer to watch the breaking news on TV, and I didn't move for the rest of the day, until they came home from school so I could hug them. I couldn't separate being a teacher and a parent on that day. I was frozen in time as I watched the tragedy play out on the screen.
I participated in an active shooter lockdown drill in the same school where my own kids attended while I observed a student teacher in that school. Even though I knew it was a drill, and I knew it was coming, my heart beat faster as officers ran through the building and jiggled at the door latch.
I've been instructed to "shelter in place" at my university while an active shooter event occurred in our area. Based on conversations after the fact, nobody really knew what to do except for those of us who had been teachers in K-12 education previously.
My entire teaching career (25+ years) has put me in the position of needing to know how to defend myself and my students from bullets IN. THE. CLASSROOM.
The founding fathers could not even fathom this kind of scenario. They didn't have schools where all children were required to attend daily. They didn't have assault weapons that could take out 34 people across three floors of a school building in less than 6 minutes.
The teachers in the Parkland documentary were the reason I couldn't stop watching. It wasn't my story - but it was. It could be any of ours who teach. We've all imagined it. We've all practiced for it. We all live with the knowledge every day, even if it's just in the background --- until it isn't.
Yes, we have a mental health crisis that we need to deal with in this country, but we also need common sense limits on the ability to purchase and operate guns (just like we have for cars).
As a side note - Having grown up in central PA, where we celebrated Doe Day and Buck Day every year with days off of school, I love and respect a TON of hunters and support their right to own guns. I also respect other rights in individual gun ownership. Suggesting that we need some controls is not the same as suggesting that we need to take away all guns.
I participated in an active shooter lockdown drill in the same school where my own kids attended while I observed a student teacher in that school. Even though I knew it was a drill, and I knew it was coming, my heart beat faster as officers ran through the building and jiggled at the door latch.
I've been instructed to "shelter in place" at my university while an active shooter event occurred in our area. Based on conversations after the fact, nobody really knew what to do except for those of us who had been teachers in K-12 education previously.
My entire teaching career (25+ years) has put me in the position of needing to know how to defend myself and my students from bullets IN. THE. CLASSROOM.
The founding fathers could not even fathom this kind of scenario. They didn't have schools where all children were required to attend daily. They didn't have assault weapons that could take out 34 people across three floors of a school building in less than 6 minutes.
The teachers in the Parkland documentary were the reason I couldn't stop watching. It wasn't my story - but it was. It could be any of ours who teach. We've all imagined it. We've all practiced for it. We all live with the knowledge every day, even if it's just in the background --- until it isn't.
Yes, we have a mental health crisis that we need to deal with in this country, but we also need common sense limits on the ability to purchase and operate guns (just like we have for cars).
As a side note - Having grown up in central PA, where we celebrated Doe Day and Buck Day every year with days off of school, I love and respect a TON of hunters and support their right to own guns. I also respect other rights in individual gun ownership. Suggesting that we need some controls is not the same as suggesting that we need to take away all guns.
I just wish I didn't have the ability to reflect on 25 Years of Guns in Classrooms.
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