My Post to the PTO Facebook Page This Morning

[IdaBriggs]

NOTE: My twins will turn 9 in one week, and are currently in third grade.

This morning's "don't worry about the high school bomb threat" district wide message was NOT reassuring. In point of fact, it was the OPPOSITE of reassuring. All I know is that a bomb threat was received at the high school, and don't worry because the district is committed to keeping everyone safe - except for the fact the high school has had multiple kids committing suicide in the last two years.

I want to believe some high school kid pulled a prank "bomb threat" because they wanted to turn over and go back to sleep or didn't have some homework done or got a little excited while playing a video game and maybe used some excitable language inappropriately. I want to send my kids off to school so we can resume our normal routines as we recover from mid-winter break. Unfortunately, all I know is that we live in a world where teachers and students have died in active shooter situations (which are words I had never heard of while I was growing up) and I am going to keep the kids home today because that "reassuring message" scared me half to death. Yes, it was probably a hoax, but just to be on the safe side, we are going to spend the day chilling at home.

Credible bomb threats requiring district wide messages are NOT my normal. I am most likely over reacting, but in a world where "school shootings" can occur in kindergarten classrooms, I am going to take the moment to clutch them a little tighter in the hope of keeping them safer. Tomorrow, after I talk with someone who will roll their eyes at my paranoia, we can return to normal without having to pretend to be brave. Or maybe we will be being brave.

Maybe that is really the new normal.