A Lockdown Scare

It was a Thursday morning. I was cleaning the house playing music on the tv. Leo was playing sweetly with his toys minding his own business. Finn was at preschool. My phone rang and it was my neighbor, she never calls me. I quick muted the music. She asked me if I had heard anything from the school. Immediately, my heart sank. Did something happen with their bus, I thought. It had just snowed a ton the day before. She said the school was in lockdown. Apparently someone claimed they saw someone enter the building with a gun. Cue gut wrenching feeling in stomach and tears welling up in my eyes. My neighbor said her friend was inside the school with her kid while this was going on and texted my neighbor. So my neighbor decided to drive up to the school. Figuring, if it were a drill there would be no police. Sure enough the school parking lot was filled with police cars and ambulances. My neighbor waited there with other parents. Finally, the lockdown was lifted and school resumed as usual. Apparently what the person saw was an armored truck service worker who handles money transfers. The school was in lockdown for forty minutes. FORTY minutes is a LONG time! So by the time ny neighbor called me everything was in the clear. Thank God, because I don't know what I would have done. I would have for sure gone up to the school. The crazy thing is I had just driven by the school right before the police got there after dropping Finn off at school. If I would have seen all of those police cars and ambulances I would have for sure stopped over there. My heart sank for my Jack. I knew deep down he probably had no idea what was really going on, but I just kept picturing him in his cute little kindergarten room hiding under the tables or something. I was actually more scared for the older kids who would be able to comprehend the seriousness of this. I guess the teachers were pretty scared as well, obviously. I guess Jack actually had a substitute that day too. His teacher got stuck in her driveway that morning and by the time she got to school, she was locked out.

I was very pleased with how Jack's school handled this situation. I hope whoever reported this person doesn't feel dumb or like they did anything wrong either. I'm thankful for that person, looking out for our children and teachers. It just makes me extremely angry and upset that we as parents or teachers or kids for that matter even have to be concerned about these situations in the first place. It's really such a shame. I hope and pray that my kids never have to experience another lockdown again and I am thankful that this situation resulted in no danger.