A Teacher's Perspective on the Shooting.

[DonRedwood]

I make lesson plans. Cut out art projects. Draw up worksheets and make plans for art, writing, math.

I also make plans for a shooter. I know every nook and cranny in my school. I know where the shooter will come from. I've played it out in my head late at night when i can't sleep. My classroom door has a glass window. That window has given me nightmares.

To the left of my door I have an 8 foot long table. It is freakishly thick and I can barely pick it up by myself. It is in a stupid spot. I've never told anyone it is there because I need something thick to block the window. On the right side of the door is a gigantic 9 foot metal shelf that, again, I can barely move. It is an old-style chunk of American steel, the type of which you just don't see anymore. With two pivots the shelf fits right in between the table legs. Shoved in tight it will hold the table in place.

But here's the kicker. Our doors open out. So, once the window is broken they can reach in and open the door. :0( So my place is at the bottom of the shelf, sitting and pushing to try to make sure nothing can get in. And in my mind, that's where I stay, blocking the way with my body, hopefully my live body.

And that's part of modern teaching. Preparing for the unthinkable. Picturing it in your mind when you don't want to or on days like today.

A teacher has an inner oath. I've got your kid for the day, I'll take good care and make sure he gets home safe.

There is nothing more sacred to me in the world. And that includes myself.

Peace to you on this terrible day.

[godai]

1. Thanks for your dedication and service. n/t

[a geek named Bob]

2. the fact that you'd even have to think this way, even once

says that our society has failed.

[DonRedwood]

14. Imagine having that responsibility. And not to one family, but 30

I have a smaller class than that but so many gen ed teachers have 30+ kids. I don't think people realize what a commitment and emotional burden that can be on many levels. Teachers these days are 1/2 teacher, 1/2 parent and 1/2 social worker...and yes, that is three halves because, i'd guess, most teacher put in that much extra time to count for another half person.

[a geek named Bob]

15. I know the feelings, bro

I've taught for 23 years. In inner cities.

[DonRedwood]

16. Bravo sir! What do you teach?

[a geek named Bob]

17. Originally, I taught English/Language Arts

That changed to a more general catch-all of "everything" to Kids with Special Needs and Emotional issues.

Other than foreign languages, I've probably taught it, at some level.

Currently, I'm teaching night classes.

[DonRedwood]

18. Wow! variety

Special Needs and Emotionally Disturbed here. Makes for an interesting day.

[roguevalley]

39. all my career I had in my head a way to save my kids if something

went wrong. I practiced barracading the door, using the back door out of the room, steeling myself if someone got shot it wouldn't be a kid. That is part of what teachers do. Given the number of mentally ill and just outright fucky parents and others i ran into over 27 years you are crazy if you don't. People defend their rooms and their kids. I don't recall ever hearing of a school shooting where a teacher ran or didn't try and save their kids. Its a calling.

[Lifelong Protester]

3. I have a poster next to the wall that can cover the window in the door

I think all the time of what things I'd throw through the windows (I'm on the second floor but above a small porch roof) to break the windows and get those kids out of my room.

I hate that I have to think about that, like you do. But I do.

[DonRedwood]

8. Throwing kids out the window is my fire plan.

Sigh...I also have an earthquake plan...but that one is less thought out since our 1920s half-condemned building will mostly likely squash us flat.

[Cha]

4. Thank you, DonRedwood

[teddy51]

5. This is so wrong on so many levels, why the hell do teaching staff even need to worry about shit

like this?

[DonRedwood]

24. Sickly once you have to do it at school, you do it everywhere...every field trip, every bus trip

every time you are out in public, your mind starts planning. And then you start doing it when you AREN'T with students. Soon you do it in line at the store, and while you are on the bus and while you are eating dinner.

Ugh. All day long my mind kept gnawing on me about this...kept imagining if it was in the hallway outside my room.

[teddy51]

26. The answer in this day and age is to have armed guards (2 per entrance, high powered automatic

weapons in there hands). Of course the budgets for this are never going to happen, but something certainly needs to be done. We need to make our schools safe for both teachers and students.

[DonRedwood]

27. I'll be honest, I wish we did have security

because then i wouldn't have to think about it so much. would be nice to have someone else carry some of that burden.

Our secretary jokes that she's the first one to go. :0(

[Chemisse]

30. Nobody should be armed in a school.

And there should be metal detectors for those who enter. That would be much cheaper than guards, and much safer.

You can't prevent every possible scenario. You just have to prepare as best you can, and hope for the best. And remember, it is more likely you and/or your students will be struck by lightning than killed by a school shooter.

[teddy51]

34. "It is more likely you and/or your students will be struck by lightning than killed by a

school shooter."

Having 4 and 6 year old Grand children, I don't like those odds. I would much rather have armed guards at every entrance so teachers can do their jobs without having to worry about getting killed, along with there students.

[Chemisse]

37. I know how you feel. I kept thinking about my grandchildren today.

Ages 5, 6, and 7 - sweet and so innocent. They just want to learn their sight words and make cool crafts to take home to Mummy, and play with their little friends at recess.

The idea that anyone could ever harm these little guys is just so horrific. I can't fathom how their families can cope with such a deep loss tonight and in the days and months ahead.

[PavePusher]

41. +1.

[knitter4democracy]

48. Metal detectors don't work.

There are always ways in around them. Just ask the kids, and they'll tell you all about it.

Better still is just having enough staff to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary and head things off in time. No guns, no extra security making it seem like a prison, just enough people to cover the needs, which we almost never have.

[Chemisse]

52. That would be optimal.

Nothing says 'I don't trust you' like a metal detector. And when kids are not trusted, why make an effort to be trustworthy?

I would just prefer a metal detector to armed guards.

[knitter4democracy]

57. Both are bad. Schools aren't prisons.

Ask any administrator: metal detectors and guards are for the parents to feel better, not to actually keep anything from happening. They occasionally do, sure, but they're nowhere near as effective as having enough staff to keep an eye on things.

Our schools are prison-like enough as it is. Instead of some knee-jerk reaction, we need to look at the real data that shows that higher staffing numbers mean our kids are safer and more successful and follow through with that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. I hear ya. I've found myself counting people while standing in line waiting to get into a movie.

One time when we were at a busy restaurant, right after we had given our name and were looking for a place to wait, my friend asked how long it would be. I said well there are 12 people ahead of us, I counted them. Just an instinct I guess.

[niyad]

6. we truly live in a sick and twisted world when teachers have to PLAN for killers in their schools.

thank you for your service, your dedication, and your courage.

(note to you damned assholes who whine about teachers' easy jobs and how they are overpaid: a great big FU

[DonRedwood]

22. I'll second that fu !

Though, I feel I get paid OK and I love my job so I'm pretty OK with all that. I'm really sick of the disrespect though--and charter schools getting to hire teachers who don't have credentials. I have to have a masters for my job in the public school! charter school teachers don't even have to have a license in many states. THAT is what my fu is for.

[Lifelong Protester]

28. I'll third that FU

[calimary]

36. Fourth!

Teachers should not have to work in what winds up being a veritable combat zone.

We need to put it to EVERY politician and representative.

I already have one litmus test for voting on some candidate (where does he or she stand on a woman's right to choose?), so I guess now I have two. Do you represent the NRA, or ME?????????

[erinlough]

7. I know what you mean.

I am retired this year, but I also had a plan for a shooter. Mine involved putting the kids out of sight and pushing a table infront of the door. I think it is awful we have to do it, but my school did have a former student come to the playground, sit in a swing, and pull out a gun. The principal and janitor were able to talk her into giving up the gun, but it taught me I had to be prepared.

[DonRedwood]

25. Did you find yourself doing it in other places too?

I'm in the community weekly with students.... I've begun to do it all the time now, no matter where I am. :0(

[erinlough]

31. I do it now.

I have family next door to me and one of them has lots of guns. He is obsessed with them, depressed often, and basically a mess. My husband and I talk about what we can do, but he owns all of them legally so there isn't much. In Michigan people can come into a restaurant with a gun holster on and I have left the restaurant for this reason. I know gun nuts here who are not people I would trust in any way for anything. Frankly I feel trapped.

[RayOfHope]

9. I teach kindergarten. And I get this post. I SO get it

I remember when we started having lockdown drills. I carefully planned what I was going to say to the kids about what we were doing and why we were doing it. How do you explain to a 5 year old the reason behind a lockdown drill? I decided on "we're just practicing another way to be safe at school." The first two years the kids just said "ok!" and seemed to enjoy huddling in the one corner that wasn't visible from the door window. As the years have gone by, I'll mention why we're practicing, and they've started saying "yeah, in case a bad guy gets into school and tries to shoot us". These are 5 year olds. Even though they know its practice, they get wide eyed. They look worried when we group together in that corner. And when the school officials rattle the handle to check that the door is locked, some of them still jump out of their skin with fear.

I have windows low to the ground with no screen. Ive rehearsed in my mind a million times about getting those kids out the window and hiding against the outside wall.

I understand that inner oath. I will do whatever it takes to keep my students safe. I cant stop thinking about that school staff and what they went through today.

[DonRedwood]

11. When I read your last paragraph I started crying....

I've kinda been avoiding the story as much as I can. Every teacher in America probably has a little PTSD going tonight.

I'm not a drinker but I think it might be time to open that bottle of wine we got for Christmas last year. Supposedly it's a pretty good bottle.

[badhair77]

12. I had HS kids so very few were scared.

You had the extra responsibility of making the little ones feel secure. It sounds as if you handled it beautifully.

I love your "inner oath" phrasing. That sums it up perfectly.

[Neurotica]

20. As a volunteer parent, that drill was the saddest thing I experienced during my kids' elementary

school years. Post-Columbine our school system developed and practiced these types of "intruder" drills. I happened to be volunteering in my son's classroom one day when one of these drills took place. He might have been in second grade at the time. The teacher locked the door and we all huddled the corner. Someone came by and rattled the door knob and we stayed in the corner, all silent. Even though I knew it was a drill, I felt my heart catch. So scary. So so sad about today.

[DonRedwood]

53. It does feel like taking some innocence away

hate them :0(

[DonRedwood]

23. Kindergarten though!! I LOVE every kindergarten teacher I have ever met!

But it is a hard job!!!!!! I subbed K for a while and those little monkeys can just go and go for hours! I also discovered I was too tall for kindergarten. My back would just kill me by noon. I should have just gotten kneepads and stayed down on the floor. That probably would have helped.

[badhair77]

10. I'm right with you, Don.

I recently retired but while I taught I played out many scenarios in my mind. As a staff we practiced at least once a semester, if not more, how to lockdown the room. The code would come over the PA, I'd stay calm but grab my keys and lock the door from outside, taking a quick glance for any stray kids. Each row of kids was assigned a corner as my door was in the middle of the room. We had a high metal file cabinet that was slid toward the door but still looking as if it belonged there so the room just looked empty. I always had a poster on the window glass so it was harder to see in the room. All lights would be darkened. I'd grab my laptop and send an email to the office secretary to report any students missing from the room and any I might have gotten from the hallway. Then we'd quietly wait till all was clear. No one spoke. We prayed that we'd never have to use it but we were appreciative for the preparation.

Other training involved how to approach a combative stranger in the hallway. Don't confront face to face, he/she might feel threatened. If the person has a weapon, turn your side because the chance of hitting a vital organ in the body would be less. Yep, teacher training did not include this 37 yrs ago.

[DonRedwood]

13. We get the same training. It freaks me out.

It is so unsettling to have to rehearse all of this in your mind over and over. Terrifying.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. I thought I was crazy. The only person out there who did that sort of mental preparation for

what should never even be plausible. (I coach a sports team of young kids, but our game venue is on nearby college campus.)

[Igel]

21. We have a lockdown drill every fall.

The rule is that if somebody looks in your classroom, you can't see any signs of life. If I blocked the door that would show somebody was inside.

Even covering the window might be a bad thing. Perhaps there's somebody in there.

Last fall I had trouble getting my class to be out of sight. "Columbine?" No kid had heard of it. They found what I told them to be ridiculous.

Then the AP came in and pointed at kids. "If I was a shooter, you, you, you, you, and you would be dead. I'd know others were in here. You'd all have your brains splattered on the walls."

Next job after the AP left and the lockdown ended--assigned the kids to read up on Columbine.

No sense of history--and I use the term loosely. What came before them is unimportant. Only now and between now and the next weekend or paycheck matters. Peabrains.

[adigal]

29. I teach high school, plan for the same things

Knock the desks over, get my students behind them, shut the shades on the windows, if I have to, knock over the big cabinet in my room for us to,get behind. We could even go it on the balcony and jump if we had to. I always make sure the kids know I have a plan after every lockdown drill. And I teach older teens.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

32. How I wish I had your eloquence, my dear DonRedwood...

My god, again your words bring the tears...

All those precious babies.

So much horror into those tiny lives...

Unbelievable.

Peace to you too, on this terrible day...

[DonRedwood]

54. I know Miss Peggy

I'm a very visual guy--I picture everything I'm told or read. I think that's why it hits me so hard...before I can process it, I've already seen it. No escaping that.

[heaven05]

33. a

sad, sad commentary on our society. Sir, I salute you and peace to you and your charges.

[reteachinwi]

35. Teachers with guns.

I am also retired and went through lockdowns etc. as a response to Columbine. Honestly, I get angry that we do our best to overcome the economic and cultural deficits so many of our students have to make sure the students are where the need to be intellectually, morally, spiritually in classrooms that have become 21st century equivalents of the OK corral. Is this who we are as a nation? Is this who we are?

[DonRedwood]

55. welcome to du

not a very cheerful topic but I'd still like to welcome you

[lbrtbell]

38. Heart's in the right place, but impractical

None of that will help against a shooter.

Schools need guards. Whether it's an outside threat like a shooter, or a threat from within like bullies or drug dealers, our kids need to be protected by people who know what they're doing.

Teachers aren't trained for this, and posts like the one you quoted are proof. It's not a teacher's place to be worrying about these things. We need guards to protect our kids AND our teachers.

[TexasBushwhacker]

56. Can you lock your room from the inside? If not, why not?

I'm a former teacher, but I haven't been in the classroom for 20 years. Security wise, it seems to me that having a night latch type lock on all doors that's only operated from the inside would be a pretty simple, inexpensive way to secure everyone while they're in the classrooms. You keep the room locked. No one, armed or not, should be able to just walk into your classroom.

[DonRedwood]

63. Mine locks from the outside, key only. All teachers doors unlock with the same key

So, if a teacher is outside in the hall and gets shot...that teacher's keys (possibly still dangling in the lock on the door they were trying to lock) will open every other room in the school.

And that's probably why they don't rekey--every single lock in every single school would have to be replaced--and replaced with very expensive sturdy locks with matching keys.

Not a cheap fix. But terrifying unfixed. Doors that open out scare me anyway, almost impossible to block.

I keep my door locked 100% of the day,everyday. I'm the first class by the doors. I'll have seconds.

[Zoeisright]

40. My teacher husband has a baseball bat.

During one lockdown scare, he positioned himself at the side of the door with the bat raised. Anyone coming in would have been creamed.

[1monster]

42. I hear you Don. I'm a sub and in at least three different schools in any one week.

Some schools give subs a classroom door key, so if there is a lockdown situation, we can lock the doors and pull down a small blind that over the window in the door.

Some schools don't.

But I find that every time I enter a classroom, key or no key, I scope out the room to see if there are any closets or offices that can be secured and how many kids I can fit into them. If there are none, I find the least visible corners of the room where the kids could crouch down, hopefully to be safe from crazies with guns.

I've never been involved in an incident, although there has been a lockdown or two (as well as drills), but I still do this almost unconsciously everytime I enter a classroom. It isn't because I expect it ever to happen, but then, I don't supposed any of the schools that have had it happen expected it ever.

My god, this jerk went after the babies. How twisted must one be to kill five year olds. They are still just babies.

[socalgal58]

43. Thank you

for keep your students safe by preparing for the unthinkable. Every single parent should be thankful for the dedication and devotion of teachers like yourself. You are making a difference in your students lives. As a parent, I thank you and send you my gratitude.

[deek]

44. Why do you think the teachers hoarded the children in corners?

I would think that would make shooting a lot of children with a few shots very easy. Why not have them go under desks and become a turtle? I would imagine schools should have "emergency drills" now, thinking of shooting scenerios?

[knitter4democracy]

46. That's what we're told to do, and yes, we have drills.

Every school I've taught in has drills a few times a year. We're to get them in corners away from the door so no one can see them just looking in, block the door, and put kids behind tipped up tables or desks.

[deek]

64. Thank you for the explanation

It makes sense to me now, with the tipped up tables/desks.

[mercuryblues]

50. to hide the kids from view

make it appear as if the room is empty.

[knitter4democracy]

45. Amen to that. I get that nightmare every summer and into fall.

Shooter trying to get to my students and I'm trying to keep him from getting to them. Same nightmare for years.

I've got it planned out in my classroom in my head, too. I've got a couple of different contingency plans, too. My room's across from the office, though, next to the front door, so I wouldn't have much time to get the kids safe.

[Kablooie]

47. The school had security plans for this situation also.

And many children were probably saved as a result.

But no plan can cover all eventualities and protect everyone unfortunately.

[Honeycombe8]

49. I hope this incident gives people second thoughts on the importance of teachers...

the teachers and keepers of our most precious jewels.

[DonRedwood]

66. Such trust is placed in us. You cannot imagine how having a whole classroom of such charges

And think about what it is like on a field trip!! Scares the heck out of me every time I go on one of those!

[femmocrat]

51. What I want to know is how he got into the building?

Has anyone reported on that?

I'm also a teacher and have participated in lockdowns and drills. We had a lockdown today and a different dismissal procedure.... buses lined up so the kids couldn't be seen leaving the building. We have a safety review first thing Monday morning. We will probably have more drills right after the holiday.

I don't think about blockading my classroom though. I think the odds of something happening are very remote especially since I travel to four different buildings. I don't even have a key for two of my classrooms. (Even though I have reported that and requested them multiple times.)

I worry more about being out on the playground. There are way too many guns around here and the playgrounds are out in the open. That is where we should have the safety drills.

[knitter4democracy]

58. From the sound of it, he started in the office.

He killed the principal, starting in the office, and then he went to the classrooms.

May their souls find rest, and may their families know they were heroes.

[tblue37]

65. It looks like he broke in from behind, through a window.

That's what I've read most recently, though that may not be the last word on it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

59. I was at lunch when my phone buzzed with a news alert of the shooting yesterday.

I went to a kindergarten classroom and just sat there, looking at those wonderful children.

I couldn't even imagine how anyone would want to hurt any of them.

But while I sat there, I took inventory. Where would we go? How would we hide the children in this classroom if a deranged person was in the hall? Is our school lockdown procedure safe enough?

Thoughts no teacher should ever have to consider.

[Bigmack]

60. When do teachers start getting combat pay..? nt

[slackmaster]

62. Thanks Don. Teachers are a special class of people.