The Outside Looking In...

On Monday and Wednesday mornings I teach a class. Yesterday (Wednesday) I woke up sick...just felt awful...but I knew there was no way to get a last minute sub, so off to work I went. I decided the class was watching a movie for the first half and we'd do real work for the second half. I have this aura around electronics...I BREAK THEM. We got half way through the movie and the darn thing froze up, I tried to just skip to the next scene but no luck. Long story short I called IT and it took them 25 minutes to get it going again. During that 25 minutes I peeked at my phone and saw a friend from college called. I made note to call her back when class was out. Welllll, we got through the movie and the DVD player refused to give my movie back. Called IT again, it took him 15 minutes to get my movie out. All of the technical difficulties made the movie take the entire class. I checked the time and noted I was going to be late to Gabriel's class. I help some of the kids that are behind in reading every Wednesday.

As I was walking to my car I noticed my friend had gone ahead and sent a text. "(The school's name) is on lock down, streets are blocked by cops and helicopter is buzzing neighborhood. You know anything?" The message came in a little after 10 and now it was past 12. Eek, no I knew nothing. I went on over to the school thinking it'd probably been long enough and the lock down would be over. Wrong. The school was still locked up tight. I called my friend to see if she'd heard anything more ( she lives in the neighborhood where Gabriel's school is located). She had been told to keep everyone inside and lock up her house. I gave a call to my mom, who had the other two yahoos, and let her know I wasn't sure how the day would go. I wouldn't be able to get Gabriel till the lock down ended.

I worked in k-12 settings for MANY years I've been in lock downs all over this town, from the snooty foothills to the scary other areas of town. In every single instance it's been something that happened in the surrounding neighborhood that they wanted to keep off school grounds. I'll never forget one lock down. I was on my first week back to work after maternity leave with Gabriel. It was 5 minutes before the lunch bell rang and I was STARVING, 2 minutes later we were on lock down....I sat in that room STARVING for nearly 2 hours. I finished reading the book I had with me and then had to just sit there and think about my hungry tummy. Fun. Anyway, I've been on the inside of many of them. I've never felt any threat to my safety and just waited for the bad guy in the neighborhood to get caught then we'd go on our way. It was different this time. I was on the outside; I didn't like that. I wasn't one of those crazy parents that start banging on the door and insist that an administrator puts themself at risk while bringing my child to me, but I did have a slightly unsettled feeling. New. I knew I wouldn't be helping out in class that day so I called Stephen and he bought a pretzel for me for lunch, and I dropped off some paperwork for a summer program we're putting Gabriel in. The secretary at his school continued answering the phones the whole time, so any parent that wanted to contact the school still could.

A letter was sent home with all the kids. It stated that there was a drop house on a street that was right next to school. Several illegal immigrants had gotten out somehow and were going to houses in the neighborhood asking for help because they were being held against their will. When the police showed up there were several more that scattered into the neighborhood. The school was on lock down while everyone was rounded up. I hope they caught the smugglers and that they ROT IN @&%#!!! It makes me SO dang mad. I don't agree with sneaking in illegally, but do understand the desperation behind such a decision. Those horrible smuggling "coyotes" can really make my blood boil. They take advantage of another persons desperation, take every cent the person owns, promises things they never intend to deliver, then just abandon them on this side of the border...unless they decide to turn to extortion and hold them ransom till their family sends more money. Ticks me off. Well, I guess that about enough of my feelings on that.

I WAS able to pick up my Gabriel on time and all was well. They had missed ALL of their recesses that day. He has a student teacher this semester...she looked a little frazzled. She mentioned that the lock down ended 15 minutes before their PE time and boy was she relieved. I can only imagine being locked in a classroom of 25 kindergartners ALL DAY. Gabriel came home with more pent up energy than I've seen in loooong time. He ran around and played hard for the rest of the afternoon. I think everyone is pretty ready for spring break. {;+D