Worst Nightmare

So, it is New Year's Day 2025. I awoke to the news that a terror attack killed ten people in New Orleans, with many more injured. It has been on my mind all day, but I did need to turn the television news off because of my anxiety. As an elementary principal, you always have these kinds of things happening in the back of your mind. What if this happened? Where would you go? What would be the safest thing for the students?

Schools have crisis plans that they create with the help of local stakeholders and law enforcement. Schools have mock drills; believe me; these are scary and realistic in many ways. I felt so bad trying to explain to these small children why we had to hide by the cubbies or under the computer desk. The plans were always carefully thought through as they were created and tweaked as needed. However, when the actual crisis happens, it would be hard to not follow what your gut tells you to do in a specific situation. Safety was always on my mind, more than academics most of the time, as I thought about my innocent little children and staff in the building each day when these events occurred. I knew that if it meant a child was in harm's way, I would be the one to step in front of that child and take whatever came my way. I felt the same about the staff members. I remember discussing this at a principal's meeting when I first started. The school shooting in Wisconsin in the fall of 2024 broke my heart. Every time something like that happens, my anxiety goes into overdrive. I remember texting my daughter-in-law the day of the Wisconsin incident. I wanted her to be aware of the school shooting situation because she could be getting phone calls from parents even though it happened in Wisconsin. You see, I have lived these scenarios. I have had some parents come and pick up their children when incidents like this have happened. My job was to reassure the parents that things were calm and everything was fine, but if they needed to take them out of school for the rest of the day so be it. Some parents had difficulty sending them back to school and would check in with the school administrative assistant several times a day to ensure things were fine. I understood.

These are scary times. I definitely have school safety ingrained in my brain. I was a stickler for having the parents ring the bell or give us a call from their cell phones and tell us who they were picking up during the day. We called the child to the office and then ensured they got to the car. It was very seldom that I freely let anyone enter the school without an escort to the office. We had a couple of before-school parent events in the spring. I was very nervous on those days and stood next to the door, looking over everyone and ensuring I recognized them or that they were with one of our students. I remember a day when a parent pushed his way through the door and was mad about a letter he had received. He was a prominent example of why parents were prohibited in the building. We had some parents with substance issues. Some parents did not understand why we did not invite them to the school. Unfortunately, there are too many liabilities these days. I can live with making a parent mad about not coming into the school, but I could not live with myself if something happened to any of the students or staff. I am glad that I do not have to deal with this daily anymore, but in a way, I do. A majority of my family is at the school during the day. Being vigilant, using your plan and common sense, and being proactive were all you could do. The rest was in the hands of the guy upstairs.

Later.