When my children began elementary school, not only could parents stroll into the building, wildlife could, too.
The school didn't have air conditioning, so the front door was sometimes ajar in the warm weather, allowing a neighborhood cat to roam the halls to the delight of students. The orange feline would strut past the office, rub up against a few legs and enjoy the adulation.
Today, an uninvited cat would be netted and sent off to the pound.
Since the oldest of my four children started school two decades ago, things have changed: Schools don't let just anybody enter, and that includes parents. And what happened a week ago at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in DeKalb County --- where a 20-year-old man with an AK-47-style rifle threatened to kill cops before a bookkeeper talked him into surrendering --- explains why the increased security is necessary.
In one of my favorite books, the narrator gazes down at his
