It seems like such a short time ago we asked God to bless the backpacks our students carry as they began a new school year. It is hard to believe our kids are just weeks away from the last day of school. The lessons and experiences of a school year change them and ideally prepare them for real life.
“This is not a drill! This is real.”
Deborah Reeves
These were the words my daughter heard her teacher frantically whisper at 1:50 on a Wednesday afternoon when the school was placed on lockdown. The teacher covered the window of the locked door, turned out the lights and told the students to hide.
Students begin practicing lockdown drills as early as preschool now, and our children know what to do in response to an intruder. Drills are scheduled before the first day of school, and teachers, parents and students know when to expect the drill.
This was not a drill. It was not on the school calendar. No one expected it. This lockdown was real.
In a dark classroom, my daughter hid alongside her classmates. She watched as her teacher crawled across the floor to her desk. The teacher opened the desk drawer and reached for a bag. She pulled out the contents and then put on the bulletproof vest and covered her nose and mouth with the face mask. Since much of the teacher’s body was now covered, my daughter focused her sights on the tears in her teacher’s eyes. She heard her teacher whisper again: “This is not a drill. This is real.”
Hiding in their school classroom, the students and their teacher waited for the intruder or the police officers. Who would get to their door first? The teacher continued to repeat to her students, “This is not a drill.”
Is this the real life our kids learn about in school?
“I wonder if this experience left any of our nation’s leaders thinking about our children who crawl under tables in their classrooms.”
I watched video footage of armed guards in tactical gear evacuating politicians, and adults crawling across the floor and hiding under tables when gunshots were fired in the vicinity of the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner. I wonder if this experience left any of our nation’s leaders thinking about our children who crawl under tables in their classrooms. Can they now empathize with the teacher who has a bulletproof vest in her desk drawer?
I think back over some of the lessons my daughter learned this school year. She now knows the temperatures of every layer of Earth’s crust, the details of various world religions, how to balance an equation, how to play an instrument, and countless other lessons that prepare her for real life. She also learned her teacher is afraid an intruder could kill her in her classroom.
The school district utilizes badge-based safety technology for rapid incident response, and a badge was accidentally pressed, activating a campus lockdown. The lockdown was lifted about 10 minutes later when safety officers determined there was no real danger.
No harm done? Parents were notified that all students and staff were safe and had resumed normal operations. Is there anything normal about thinking you might die in a school classroom and then returning to your desk to finish the daily lesson?
We practice safety drills. We rally for secure borders. We vow to protect our own. We worship guns. This is real life.
God, forgive us. May our children teach us. Advocate for change.
Deborah Reeves serves as pastor to children and their families at First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas.