How Many Will Fit? A Teacher’s Fear of School Shootings

What if that had been in my state?

What if that had been in my parish?

What if that had been in my school?

What if?

All of those questions crossed my mind when I heard about the February 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Those questions cross my mind every time something like this happens. Students should be able to come to school without the fear that their school might be shot up. Teachers should be able to come to school without the fear that their school might be shot up.

Sure, the heightened sense of alert that we feel now will dissipate after a while, but deep down we know that no real change will happen—at least not swiftly.

Have you ever heard of ALICE? Do yourself a favor, teacher friends, and research what they are now asking teachers and students to do if there is an active shooter on campus.

I’m sorry, I don’t need my second graders to have this in their mind.

No lie. I’m afraid to send my little one to “big school” now.

I know, it’s better to prepared and to know what to do in an emergency situation. That’s why we practice various drills through the school year. I get it.

In the face of danger, I would do anything to protect my second graders like they were my own children.

That’s a scary, scary thought.

One of my sheroes, Sarah Plumitallo, posted the following on Facebook:

“15 under the backpack hooks. Two in the cabinets with the shelves pulled out. Two under my desk. Five in the closet. Me at the door, ready to stand between them and a gun. ‘How many will fit?’ A question no teacher should have to ask, but a question we all do. A question we all answer.”

–Sarah Plumitallo

Raise your hand if you have ever ran the same scenario through your mind before.

Both of my hands are up.

I think about how my classroom is the closest to the door that leads outside to the playground. I think about the neighborhood that sits right behind the fence surrounding the school. I think about the large windows in my classroom that face the playground. I think about how a crazy person could venture through the neighborhood, jump the fence, enter our playground, and shoot through my classroom windows while I’m teaching…or enter the school and unleash.

What is wrong with this picture?

Everything.

I just wanted to blog my thoughts about this issue. There’s no organization to this post. It jumps around probably. It may not even make sense, but hopefully teachers feel my pain.

I pray for all of the students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School, especially the heroic teachers, who like you and me, chose to protect those students like they were their own children and died doing so.

What’s the solution to all of this?

How can we stop school shootings?

I don’t know.

 

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.