Following the tragic events last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, many schools are now starting to practice what to do in the case of a shooting in the school. School shootings have become so common that schools have shooting safety drills just like fire safety drills.
My 5th grader and I were conversing on the way to work/school this morning. As an educator, I wanted to be sure he and...
Anyone with a child in school has to be worried at this point that something could happen to them, since clearly the kids aren't safe from guns there. One such parent is Tanai Benard of Austin, TX. After the Parkland shooting, she wanted to make sure that her fifth-grader son Dez's school was taking safety seriously and that Dez himself was paying attention and not using the time to "socialize and goof off."
In a lengthy Facebook post, Benard explains how she asked Dez about any recent safety drills he might have had in school, and he answered that he'd had one called the "active shooter drill." And not only was he paying attention, he was one of the kids who volunteered to help barricade the door with a table, hopefully keeping other students safe.
Here's how the conversation went, with some of Benard's thoughts added in.
Me: Have you guys praticed a lockdown drill in class yet?
Dez: Are you talking about an active shooter drill?
Me: Yes
Dez: Yes, we practiced it
Me: So tell me what you are suppose to do.
Dez: The teacher is suppose to shut and lock the door, put the black paper over the window on the door. Then myself and three other boys are suppose to push the table against the door.
After that all the class is going to stand behind us on the back wall.
Me: The class is suppose to stand behind who?
Dez: Me and the other 3 boys. We stand at the front and they get behind us.
*I internally went from 0 to 100 real quick. My child is one of only 2 black children in a class of 23. Being transparent, I immediately went to the "why is my black son being put on the front line?" (Just being real) So I asked before I verbally stated my thoughts*
Me: Why did you get picked to stand in front of everyone else if a shooter came in your school?
Dez: I didn't get picked. I volunteered to push the table and protect my friends
Dez: If it came down to it I would rather be the one that died protecting my friends then have an entire class die and I be the only one that lived
Father God, it took everything out of me not to breakdown. I still have a lump in my throat. 10 damn years old and this has to be our babies thought process in America.
How terrible, truly, that schools have to have drills because America's gun problem is so completely out of control.
