PORCH PONDERINGS

School Drama

Yesterday everyone in town that has kids in school was all atwitter. Seems the school was in a lockdown situation for about 45 minutes. It was not a shooter situation, it was not dangerous. It was a few students making threatening remarks, per my source. Incident was resolved, life in school went on.

But oh no! You will not do this without parental involvement in every step of the way. The outrage, the online ranting and raving. How dare you do this without our permission!

This was the info given online initially that started the firestorm:
Dear Community Members, RHS was placed into a lockdown a few moments ago. The lockdown has been lifted. We will get a more information out quickly.

Then that statement was followed by this one:
Subject Line: Safety Notification - Lockdown Ended at Roundup High School Dear Parent or Guardian, Roundup High School was placed in Lockdown from 9:45 am to 10:01 am due to a possible threat. Students and staff were asked to remain in their locked classrooms to keep the hallways empty. Thank you for your patience while we worked with first responders to respond to the situation. The safety and security of your child is our top priority. What is a Lockdown? Lockdown is called when there is a threat or hazard inside the school building. The Lockdown Action demands locking interior doors, moving occupants out of the line of sight of corridor windows, turning off lights to make the room seem unoccupied, and having occupants maintain silence. If students are unable to get behind a locked door, they are trained to self-evacuate. If your child contacts you to inform you that they safely self-evacuated, please contact the district at 406-323-1507 to notify us your child is safe. Sincerely, Riley Mayo Principal

Now I understand the anxiety of a threat in school so soon after that incident in Georgia and other places. But our school is in rural Montana. It's a smallish high school, with a graduating class each year of twenty or so. Most everyone in school knows everyone else, and quite a few are related to each other in some way. But it only takes one remark by some student to another that sounds like perhaps possibly maybe they are plotting revenge or mayhem or madness to get everyone all worked up.

The administration and teachers and staff are well-trained for these situations. They care very much about each student. Some have their own children in the school system. So I am sure in this situation no one was in any real danger. Thank goodness.

I perceive the anxiety in our town reflects the anxiety of our world at large. Everyone is all worked up and anxious and nervous. It's almost like we all need to have a giant dose of 'calm-the-heck-down'. Relax, things are never really as bad as you think they are. What is the saying? And it's an old one - 'tempest in a teacup'.