As I tell you about my Valentine's Day, I want you to know that everything is OK and no one was hurt.
I got a call from my neighbor about 9 am asking me if I was watching the news about an intruder in Nicholas' Middle School and that they were in a full lock down. I had no idea, but I had my coat on and was out the door before she even hung up! As I approached the school, of course it was blocked off in all directions, but I did manage to get within a block to see that the entire building was surrounded in police cars and there were SWAT team guys with rifles all around the outside of the building. That was all it took to get some serious adrenaline pumping.
I got out and asked the intersection police what was going on and he directed me to a church in the next block where the police had set up a place to gather with parents and give updates.
First they had no information except that the kids were not in danger, the intruder had an axe and the school safety officer saw him and called the police. So many, many stories started and crazy things were being passed around and rumored - I mean seriously crazy - it's amazing what hysteria does to people!
We waited and waited while they decided if they were going to relocate the kids, if they were going to close school, how they were going to let us get to our kids, for them to search every single classroom and for them to apprehend the intruder...so nerve wracking and helpless and scary and ...
A couple of hours later we learned that the intruder was actually a student and he had a military style shovel of sorts and he was not intending any harm to anyone. The news reported that it belonged to a teacher and that the student had retrieved it from the teachers car, at the teachers request, for a part of a school lesson that day. Who knows, that was not in any of the updates the police were giving while I was there. All I do know for sure is that it was a very scary situation to wait helplessly and not know what was going on with my child!
Finally, after what seemed like hours later, they let us walk up to the school, stand in line, show ID and get our child. I was scared out of my mind with all the recent school problems and so very, very grateful that the students were safe and that everyone did their job - and did it well!
The school was amazingly organized in getting the kids to us. It went pretty quickly...some parents didn't play well with others but all in all, for as long as we had to wait, it went pretty well.
When Nicholas came into the gym to meet me, he was all smiles and happy until he realized exactly what was going on on the outside of the school. That shook him up for a minute.
He said he had spent the last 2-1/2 hours in a crouched position in the corner of the girls locker room with 40+ other kids (he was in PE at the time of the lock down) in absolute silence. Some kids were inside lockers, some under benches and the rest huddled together. The whole class had to be silent, and they could hear the police above them in the upstairs classrooms enter and search each room and give a 'all clear'. He said they really didn't know what was going on at the time.
As we walked back to the car, my oh so cool 13 year old, held him mommy's hand tight as we watched and waited for all the traffic to clear. He told me all about what he knew and had heard, what the kids were saying and how some of them reacted. I shared all that the parents had been through and how very grateful, SO incredibly grateful I am that he and the others were safe. Then in typical Nicholas fashion he announced that he was starving and asked if I would take him to McDonald's -clearly he was over it...me, not so much!
Thank you to all the police who responded and the school staff for everything they did to ensure the safety of our kids.
