Whew. What a week!

I am glad this week of school is over!  Although I have LOTS to work on this weekend (not sure how much I'll actually accomplish), Friday evening is a relief.  The one word to describe the craziness of this week is "LOCKDOWN".  Wednesday afternoon, I was still at school, working in my room.  I heard a call over the loudspeaker to lock down.  I knew kids were at school for an after school program, so I ran outside, blowing my whistle, and calling for the kids on the field, after school program workers/coaches, and parents to come inside!  It turned out that by the time we were locking down, a suspect was already in custody.  He had jumped the fence right by my classroom, ran through an area where kids were playing a game, and somehow was captured by law enforcement.  The lockdown was to secure the area while the cops looked for possible dropped items.  I had nearly 60 people (mostly kids) in my classroom.  I got busy trying to get all the names written down to email to the office, as I had been trained.  I enlisted the moms there to write their own names and the names of the kids with them.  An after school youth leader (college age) started taking down names of kids on one side of the room, and I started on another. Fortunately, it was over before I actually had them all collected. Later, I was rather shaken up as I realized how close my room is to the gate/fence over which the suspect jumped, and how quickly someone could be in my classroom!  Unfortunately, apparently fire code trumps intruder safety, and I am not allowed to leave my door locked during class. We do have "door blocks", which are specially designed to keep the door ajar while leaving it actually locked.  It is easily "unblocked" from inside in case of an emergency.

The next afternoon, I was again working in my room after school. For some reason which I can't remember (maybe I heard the helicopter?) I looked outside the classroom. A helicopter was circling over the area north of the school, quite close.  As this happens rather frequently in our area, it wasn't a complete surprise.  However, the cop car on the street by our play field was more unusual.  I called the office, and was told about police activity a few blocks away.  An intercom announcement told us to lock our doors, yet it wasn't announced as a lockdown.  Students in the after school program would be escorted to the restroom.  My window shades were still closed (and some of the gaps covered) from the lockdown the day before!  I turned out the lights and decided to check for news of the situation on TV.  The overhead cameras showed a liquor store right at the end of the street which borders one side of our school.  I called the principal, who was going to check with law enforcement, as the original report indicated further away. NOW a real lockdown was called.  At least I didn't have kids in the class with me!  However, my classroom is pretty close to a street perpendicular to the one where they were looking.  A helicopter was overhead, and sometimes the building would shake.  I even heard announcements such as "come out with your hands up" and, referring to at least one canine, "will bite you".  As I sat there in the dark, not wanting even to turn on the computer screen again (I didn't want light to show) I was getting scared.  At one time, I heard a thump.  I texted my principal and assistant principal and said I was scared.  Not too long after that, they texted me that a certain police officer (I think he may be our campus liaison) would come to get me and escort me to the office.  (Like many Southern California schools, our classrooms open directly to the outdoors.  To get to the office, I had to walk about the distance of a block...outside.)  My principal told me he would knock three times.  Shortly after that, he arrived.  We stopped to get the assistant principal, who had delivered snacks to some after school program kids.  I wondered if he had his hand gun out.  No!  He had a BIG gun out...not sure exactly what it's called, but looks like the assault rifle type!  I got to the office and hung out there a while.  Finally, about 2 hours after we locked down, it was over.  I told my principal I was going to leave early today (Friday)!  And I did.