At the beginning of the school year, as I’m deciding how to arrange my classroom I’m thinking about how to decorate and what would be the best place to put the risers for the kids to see the board, where to put materials, instruments, etc.  But the other thing I have to think about is where I can hide kids. Just in case.

Another school shooting today makes me think I need to practice with my kids.  The other thing I considered when I placed the risers was how many kids I could hide behind it and not be seen from the windows next to the doors.  And I have two.  So I have a few posters up on the windows to block the view and things in the door to pull out to lock the doors right away.  My phone sits on my desk where I can get to it fast if I need to.  And then my job is to teach the kids what to do “just in case” without scaring them to death.

As we’re going through procedures in the beginning, we discuss drills – fire drills, tornado drills, code red drills.  The kids are always full of “what if” questions. What if there is fire in front of both doors?  What if the tornado lifts off the roof?  What if the roof falls on us?  What if someone with a gun tries to get in our room?  What if they break through the glass?  And it’s my job to find an answer that reassures them that I will take care of them, no matter what.

And it has become essential to run through possible scenarios in my head.  My go to place to hide or shelter from tornadoes is actually next door because it’s smaller and only has one door.  My room is big and open with no cabinets or furniture to use.  So the scenarios are for MY what if questions.  What if I don’t have time to move to the other room?  Do I have anything to put in front of the doors/windows to reinforce?  Do I have anything that could serve as a weapon should I need one?  My go to answer for the kids is that I would grab boomwhackers and smack the bad guys with them, which always makes them laugh, but in my scenario, I have to be serious.

When I began teaching, a long, long time ago, this was not something that was taught, nothing that we needed to prepare for.  As the culture and our society has changed, so have demands on teachers.  As I read stories about brave teachers who have done heroic deeds for their students, I ask myself if I would react the same way.  Would I have the guts to fight for my kids if faced with a life or death situation?  I would like to think I would, but for now, the best I can do is try to be as prepared as I can be for whatever comes our way.  I would love to say that it will never happen to us, a little elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraska, but I’m betting that’s what the teachers thought at the high school in western Kentucky today.

I don’t have any answers as to how to stop the violence.  It’s a much more complicated issue than most people are willing to really think about.   It’s not because of one thing, but a combination of things, which we won’t address today.  And while I have opinions,  I’m not equipped to handle those big issues personally.  However, I can work to be prepared where I am.  Just in case.