Friday, February 27, 2009

"Lockdown" - The New Elementary School Drill

I remember as a kid having earthquake and fire drills. The bell would ring and we would either drop under our desks and cover our heads or line up and walk quickly and orderly to the playground. We would look at our friends and giggle or roll our eyes.... We were wide eyed and innocent in those days. School shootings and terrorists were never heard about. We were safe.
We live in a different world today where "Lockdown" drills are part of the normal elementary school drills. When I asked my eleven year old daughter what she thought the reason for a lockdown drill was she casually said it's in case a bad man comes with a gun to our school. The way she said it really disturbed me. She was very casual about it. So I asked her what happens in a Lockdown drill. She said that the teacher locks the door, table three closes the blinds, the boys hide behind table five, and the girls hide under and behind Mrs. Smith's desk and they have to be very quiet.
You would think that because my daughters go to a private Christian school in a prestigious area in Orange County California, drills like this would not be practiced. You would think that to be true. You would hope that to be true. But the fact is our schools are not the safe Haven they once were. Whether you're in South Central Los Angeles or close to Disneyland....
It's sad to me that my daughters don't have the freedom to be wide eyed and innocent like I was at their ages. Now they have to worry about a dangerous intruders shooting guns in their school while they hide under Mrs. Smith's desk...

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