I share this with much trepidation and have clipped the kid's faces, as moments like this shake all involved to the core. There was our Creator, a group of protectors and professional teams that kept these kids safe.
It is interesting that the school where the shooting occurred was not only my daughter's first school in the area, but was the first place she started learning ALICE drills. This is a type of Active Shooter Civilian Response Training they incorporate in schools.
Does your child's school participate in this? I heard my daughter speak of drills, she talked about some specifics and I didn't think too much about it, except that it is good to be prepared.
Based on my own experiences, when I went to school as a kid in California, we had the typical fire drills and earthquake drills. My mother and father always being about preparation had talks with us for earthquakes and there was a protocol. So I did not find it odd they were conducting drills at my daughters' schools.
The acronym for ALICE itself stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. The Evacuate reminded me of one parent speaking to a reporter on a local news station shortly after the shooting describing how one parent simply told her child on the phone "to run!"
I must say, I cried and though we can pray standing up, the Creator hears us any and everywhere, I stopped working, dropped to my knees and prayed for those parents. I asked God's forgiveness for a society that perpetuates violence rather than love for one another.
One father knew where one of his kids from the school were right after the shooting took place was, but he still had not located the other one. All parents have a visceral reaction to events of this nature. We can immediately empathize with the emotions these parents are clearly feeling when their children's lives and well being are at stake.
I felt guilty when I prayed for those parents, and though this will seem self-serving, in the very same breath while requesting safety for their kids, I was thanking our Creator that my daughter was safe. I knew all area schools were probably on lockdown for protocol and safety procedures so knew I couldn't go and take her out, but she was safe.
Then moments later, I realized she wasn't. I thought I had heard wrong. Surely they meant to say the middle school where the shooting was had received a bomb threat and the crews they were showing swarming over my daughter's hight school I assumed were there to keep the children being bussed there after evacuation safe.
The news must have meant middle school, all the kids now were fine and just following the normal safety protocol.
All of a sudden I realized it was clear and present danger. I had already tried to text my daughter to see if she was safe. Initially she was, but then there was no more response and it was evident my messages were not getting through to her. I wanted to panic, my husband was out of town by quite a distance.
I was in communication with my mom and she of course tried to calm me down. Even when my daughter said I couldn't get her out because they were on lockdown I started preparing water bottles and supplies to go get her.
I hate that we have to have our phones to communicate with our loved ones as I was also trying to give family members updates and needed to have a way to converse with my daughter there at the school. Of course we are all of us, including myself attached to these little devices. They have become our way of life and we all push aside all info related to the ways they can ultimately be our destruction. I understand, we take the good with the bad.
To say I was nervous about having this tracking device on me is an understatement. Of course I can turn of the geo locator, but we all know those devices have a backdoor and are traceable.
The photo above was taken in my daughter's classroom after they had properly barricaded the door and huddled under and around the teacher's desk.
Here is one after they barricaded the door
Here is a photo she took while feeling anxious, she said many kids were shaking and of course, some crying. Especially after someone rattled the doorknob and pounded on it with no explanation.
The news and automated messages sent out to parents stated that the bomb threat at my daughter's high school was not related to the shooting. It happened after they started busing the students to the nearby high school.
We are small town America. Yes, the message has been received that all are vulnerable. My daughter is aware that I cover school shootings. The shooting at her first school in the area and the bomb threat at her school happened just 7 days after the Texas shooting.
She has other photos showing how they kicked into action and followed protocol they have practiced for these terror drills. I am glad they were prepared as someone pounded on their door and jiggled the knob. Lots of shaking and trying to calm each other down in her classroom. They could hear the commotion below them as surely dogs were scouring the school for the threat.
I will discuss more with my daughter as I asked if I could share this photo. She said she has other photos which I will ask whether she is okay with me sharing them.
Parents and guardians were lined up outside of a school within walking distance where my daughter attended junior high. As you can imagine, even though there was no threat there, the people perceived a threat and just wanted their children.
Everyone is still processing this. It was utter chaos when I went on foot to get my daughter. People were pulling up on lawns of homes, churches, etc. nearby as there was no place to park. Fortunately I live within walking distance of my daughter's school so just cut through people's yards and walked it. Of course it was noisy with names randomly being called out of a loudspeaker that were difficult to distinguish with the news chopper overhead.
Some parents holding pink slips they kept looking at, many looking perplexed, confused, distraught as police presence armed to the hilt guarded the doors and kept parents roped off and at bay as once in a while a student or two would trickle out.
Everything was very surreal. I am still putting this together to tell how I got her out of there in spite of a lot of red tape. I knew she needed to be out and we needed to get away from the school, just as I know all the other parents wanted their kids home safe.
How was I able to send her back in when school resumed? I didn't want to, and if I could be the one in control, I would not, nor would I ever send her back in.
That's just it though, our world was shaken, can be shaken again and I have very little to zero actual control. I knew my kids were the last generation of children who could attend school in relative safety. Our world is a changing landscape constantly fraught with chaos and fear.
Why is that? Does it have to be that way? Is there something we are missing. . .possibly something as clear, bold and blatant as an advertisement.
I also drove around the school hours after the shooting. It is interesting the things you see after an event like this.
I will write on this later. What are your thoughts? Have you had any chaotic events at your school? Do you think something larger is at play here than just random kids, in some cases where authorities had been told they were a threat, but were still allowed access to weapons? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Stay alert, rely on the Creator for guidance and discernment and remember. . .Where we go one, we go all! Godspeed fine patriots and I thank all of those who were praying for my daughter just a few days ago. The Creator is powerful and protective!