Lockdown.
This story on school lockdowns in Slate made me remember my own experience with lockdown drills when I was teaching.
Let me start by saying that I strongly believe that the primary job of a school and its staff, more than raising test scores or learning math facts (or, in my case, teaching color theory), is keeping our children safe.
I always believed that I was doing a fairly good job if I returned the kids in pretty much the same physical shape as when they walked in my door.
I taught K-5. Trust me. That’s a big deal.
My district administration decided to institute lockdown drills in response to what continue to be the shockingly regular news reports of school shootings.
Whether this was a bad idea or just badly implemented is hard to say.
But its implementation was nuts.
Our principal decided that she did not want to frighten the students by announcing a lockdown drill over the intercom. So, she decided the code would be, “There’s a bear in the hallway.”
At that point I was to lock my door. My classroom door, which has a large glass window where anyone can see into my room, only locks from the outside. I had to grab my keys and open the door in order to lock it.
Then I was to turn off the lights and gather the students under the art supply table that Lockdown. | Fred Klonsky: