The Emotional Repercussions of Perpetual Threats at School

A journal post

So, a different sort of post is once again coming at you, my readers, this one about school safety. And I know that most people come here to read a certain type of thing. I have my romance review readers, my crochet and knitting fiber friends, and gaming people who peruse my journal on any given day. So when I post about something off-topic, it’s hard to find a place to stick posts like these. But this is still my personal blog so I will from time to time post about something that’s just on my mind.

School Safety and School Threats

Readers who have been with me a while know that I am a teacher in my day job and also that I live in Georgia, pretty close to Winder-Barrow and Apalachee High School. Since the school shooting there on the 4th of September everyone in my district has been on edge.

Schools should be a safe place. But the reality, one that students know, is that schools are not always safe. Because of the threats, many students at my school stayed home on Friday, be it out of fear or just to be safe. Completely valid reasons, to me. In other counties, I’m sure it was the same.

What’s sick about the aftermath of what happened in Winder-Barrow is that other threats poured in all over the place. Especially on Thursday and Friday of that week, threats were peppering social media. News sites reported students being arrested and charged with making threats all over the Southeast. The high school in Gwinnett County I attended was named. Another threat specifically mentioned the middle school where I teach. In Franklin County, an hour north of us even closed the high school on Friday the 6th because of threats and photos circulating around. Scary, too close to home, shit. Pardon my language.

School Safety Drills

Everyone knows that having drills prepares people for actual emergencies. The goal is to keep school safety at the forefront of everyone’s minds. We have regular, monthly fire drills and severe weather drills throughout the school year. The era of active shooters though, has necessitated the introduction of lockdown drills that happen to prepare students and teachers for the horrible possibility of something happening at their school.

When a lockdown drill happens at a school, the community and stakeholders are told in advance so that everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that it is a DRILL and not a real emergency. This is to assuage students, parents, and community members completely viable panic when we simulate the events that we’ve seen play out again and again and again in schools across the country.

Just going through the motions, it’s impossible to stop yourself from imagining how it would feel to be in that school if something were actually happening. It’s horrible. Thoughts going full steam, heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, it’s a horrible event to even conceptually prepare for.

So, Friday the 13th

Getting to the point here. Yesterday was Friday the 13th and for some people that’s a day of ill omen. Inauspicious. Bad luck. It was a normal, if not a bit squirrely day at school. Middle school students are at the best of times chaotic little beings barely self-aware enough to focus for a lesson. At the worst of times, well, chaotic is their starting point.

It was 7th period. After a chaotic class of an end-of-unit test, begging my class to finish the work sessions I will be grading in the next few days, and to do SOMETHING academic in the last few minutes of class to further their development into articulate humans at some point in their future, it finally it was time for dismissal. Friday antsy is a different type of antsiness.

Then, right at dismissal the red strobe light goes off, and a voice comes over the speakers that we are going into lockdown. The voice instructs us to turn off the lights, lock the door (already locked) and get into hiding. Most chilling, the statements finishes with the words ‘prepare to defend’. Yikes.

We never, ever go into hard lockdown without a warning. Unless it’s like, the real deal. Like I said, when we have a lockdown drill it is always with lots of advance warning to us, students and parents so everyone knows it is a drill.

No Warning This Time

But there was none of that. So, I motion my class to the corner of the classroom where there is a little alcove. We scuttle over, turn off the lights, and get silent. Most of us get silent. Some kids’ natural reaction is to giggle and laugh, but there was an honest undercurrent of fear, nervousness, and anxiety fueling those little laughs. I might have muttered a curse word at them to be freaking quiet because I didn’t know what the hell was going on.

When I say the school got silent I mean woah it was silent. A few students had been in the bathroom and the bang of the stall doors was loud enough to make me jump. My heart was

So we huddle in the corner and stay as silent as 7th graders can be. And then we wait. And wait. It might have just been a few minutes but it felt like an actual eternity. I was checking my phone for texts, and emails. Just checking for anything. Kids were understandably texting their parents. I was afraid that something was happening in the front office because there wasn’t any announcement over the intercom.

School Safety Means… An Accidental Lockdown

The thing is, it was an accident. You know that because there was not another news story about another shooting happening at another school. And that’s the best outcome, of course. But even though it was only an accidental lockdown, it was so fucking traumatic for everyone.

Finally, when someone came on the intercom, their response was so nonchalant and blasé. “Oopsie everything good, let’s dismiss.” Another announcement was made later by our mighty principal (who I love!) to further explain what happened. Something also went out to parents. But I know teachers were also reeling.

I deeply appreciate my assistant principal sending a feedback request to teachers so we could unpack some of our feelings following the events. She’s new this year but I love her as AP. On a side note, good admin is so very important for schools, and that includes issues of school safety.

How Could an Accidental Lockdown Happen?

The thing is, the system worked like it was supposed to. We have the same Centigix badges that Apalachee High School has. In fact, I heard that Barrow County saw that Clarke was using them so that’s one of the reasons they got a contract with the company.

So every employee in the school has a badge with an emergency button on it. Which means every employee is capable of triggering that hard lockdown. School safety is in everyone’s hands. They’re not super easy to push, and to trigger a lockdown the button has to be pushed a lot of times for a hard lockdown to be triggered. But people, in the heat of the moment, are not infallible.

If something happens in our classroom, we push the button. Three times gets admin running. If the button gets pushed a certain number of times though, the system automatically trips over to some auto process where it calls the police and switches the hard lockdown alarm.

Honestly, when we first got the badges a few years ago, I was concerned it was going to be me who accidentally triggered the lockdown. But the buttons are not super easy to push, you have to intend to push them. And I am happy to have the badges. They’ve been proven effective. But I guess people are freaking out in the moment and it can be easy to push the button too many times.

Traumatizing

It was really too much for that to have happened at the end of the school day on Friday afternoon. Like my adrenaline was pumping. It honestly took me a few hours before my heartbeat and breathing felt normal again. School safety should be a baseline condition. It’s tragic it’s not. There’s no way to describe what it feels like to consider that whatever is happening might be an actual emergent event, and I hope to everything in the universe that I never have to experience that happening in a school I work in for real.

Normal Posts

I have a few normal posts in the pipeline. I’ve finished most of the ARCs I was reading this week and have reviews drafted for them. I’ll be posting them through this coming week, so look forward to that, my MM Romance readers.

The post School Safety: appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

ARC Reviewing

Y’all know I love to read. A few books I’ve read lately have been stellar and I’ve posted my reviews of them. One book I’ve enjoyed very much that I posted a review as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) is The Unlikely Pair by Jax Calder, which is now live on Amazon so you can go pick it up. It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and for purchase. I also adored The Alien Scientist by Eryn Ivers which will be published August 14th!

But…

What to do when I agree to read an ARC of a book and it’s not very good? I want to help authors and give constructive feedback. One day I want to join their ranks and publish my own story. So being honest but forthright is helpful, in my opinion. But what if an author sees my review and gets offended?

But when a book is not very good, I am not sure what to do other than be honest. It’s the neurodivergence in me that is nearly able to override all other social norms, honesty taking precedence over making another person feel right.

This is incidentally how I Know I’m most likely auDHD and not just ADHD. The neuro spicy in me is spicy.

I’m trying to get through one right now that I think needs work. It’s been a struggle to get to where I am in the book but I need to finish it in the next few days. A review will be forthcoming and the Southern moral compass in me and the neurodivergent need to be honest are currently at war with one another on how to tactfully review it.

Plans for the site

You might notice that I have updated the theme once again, now I am using the Kadence theme. I am really liking this theme a lot. It’s modern looking and clean, but not overly simplistic. Each post is displayed with a featured image too, which ups the professional look in my opinion.

I have several things I am planning for the blog. I’ve been working hard to diversify the things I have offered here so people will find value in the posts I make. It’s still a personal blog, that’s why I am writing this post, but I want people to come to my site and say hey, that’s a good site to look around on.

Fanfiction Page

I write fanfiction, and I am working on a page to compile my various stories that I have written. Linking them from my blog seems like a logical thing to do. The work I have created makes me proud and I love the fandom I write in, BTS, almost exclusively Sope (Yoongi and Hoseok).

So, I have a draft page that I’m working on to link my ao3 titles here so people can read their descriptions and click over to ao3 from this site to read my stories. I will not be hosting my stories here, they will remain on ao3.

More shopping centered posts

I shop a lot on Amazon so I will continue to post reviews and links to the products I buy on Amazon here in hopes of generating some commission income. My push to improve the image of my site does have to do with the fact that I am a teacher and would like to earn money from my site, after all.

Google Ads? Not any time soon

Speaking of earning income, Google thinks my site has low value content so I will not be having Google Ads on my site any time soon. Which is so unfortunate, but everything on the Internet is so polished and refined now that a personal blog where I post about various things just doesn’t quite fit in with the sites that Google wants to advertise on. I am disappointed in that, but it is what it is. For certain, I am not going to change my content. Personally I don’t think it is ‘low value’. What I post is authentic, I post what I feel like posting. Sometimes that is a free Google presentation theme I made, while other days it’s a book review. And then some days it’s a plain, old-fashioned blog post.

Work

The first full week of school is about to wrap up for us. That is, if I get off my butt and get ready for work. So I guess I should do that! Happy Friday to all!

The post General Update Week of August 9 appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

I remember when I was a child starting school much later. The date for start of school has been marched back until we are landing on August 1 as the start of school for most districts in the area.

Back to School is a BUSY TIME

I teach middle school, and have a high school aged student of my own. It goes without saying that the days leading up to the start of the new school year is an incredibly busy time. Lots of things to buy, to get organized and to prepare for. However, older students need fewer supplies than younger students. We are down to the bare basics now that he’s in high school. Being well beyond elementary school age, I can reflect from an objective place. Believe me, I do not miss the back to school circus families with elementary age children have to go through. And the cost! It’s sort of ridiculous.

School checklists oh my

The endless supply lists, the uniforms, the classroom supplies for teachers both classroom and specials, it can all get a little overwhelming for elementary age students. And yes it’s very, very expensive. If you’re brave, I dare you to peek into the Back to School section of most big-box stores like Target or Walmart. These days you will probably see all of the following: You’ll see harried parents trying to stay within their dwindling budget and get all the things they “need” for school. Next to them you will find students searching for the perfect supplies with a mix of excitement and dread on their faces. All around will be shelves completely out of order from the hordes of parents and students rifling through them and you’ll likely see loads of school provided lists piled everywhere for all the various schools in the area.

Expensive doesn’t quite describe it

Parents, believe me, I get it. Money isn’t spreading as far these days and it’s more important than ever to choose wisely with your purchasing decisions. Amazon has a ton of low-cost options for back to school. If I were still needing to buy a ton of things for an elementary aged student I would for sure go there first to find deals before I piled in the car to go to a local store.

As a teacher, I am nearly ready for the school year. This weekend I’ve been tackling my required training and getting as much relaxation time as I can. Before I know it, it will be nose to the ground and full tilt madness until Labor Day, our first break. The school year is exhausting and I’m savoring my last minutes of relaxing time.

Best of luck out there, whether you are a parent shopping for back to school things, a teacher preparing for the coming school year, or are a student both looking forward to and dreading the return to academics. You can do it!

The post Back to School – The School Year is Upon Us appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

Readers who’ve been around a while know that I am a teacher. The school where I work was built in the 90s and it’s getting dated and old. So thanks to SPLOST money, construction at my workplace is under way and the resulting chaos it’s a bit stressful. It’s stressful for both the teachers and the students.

A Bit?

That is an understatement. The construction project started in January when we returned from winter holidays. Working out the details is ongoing. How to successfully move 250 students from learning cottages (aka trailers) to the bus loading area without it taking more than 15 minutes has proven a challenge. We often run late and leave after the normal dismissal time.

Construction Takes Time

This construction project will take a long time. Two more years of this. At the middle school level, students freak out at small changes. Expecting them to go with the flow of MAJOR construction going on during school hours is a LOT.

My Room

My room is scheduled to be renovated during the summer so at least I don’t have to move to a trailer for a semester but I am still tense because everything is different. Humans are creatures of habit, after all. I look forward to being free from the construction zone as soon as possible.

What are they doing?

For the most part, the renovations at my school are cosmetic. In my classroom, they will remove the counter that’s along one wall, and add built-in cabinets in two places. New carpet will replace nasty old carpet. Teachers get new desks and file cabinets and an adjustable lectern on wheels. Walls will be painted, and new whiteboards put in with a corkboard on one side for a bulletin board. Most rooms will also get a whiteboard in the back of the classroom. We also get completely new desks and chairs. It’s exciting to get an overhaul like this.

Beyond the Classroom

The construction zone extends beyond each classroom. On the Connections hall, new teacher bathrooms will be added and there will be a new Agriculture corner, where the agriculture room will have much more specialized facilities in place, and will egress out onto a patio with access to the greenhouse and chicken coop.

The 6th-grade wing is moving to the center hallway and will get a completely new section, with like six new classrooms and a new egress to the bus loop. The 7th-grade and 8th-grade wings get new science labs and classrooms added onto the end of their respective wings.

The whole construction project adds a substantial amount of capacity for students, as enrollment continues to increase.

Overall

Construction zones might be stressful but the end result will be worth it. (Update: It was worth it!)

Education

I write about education and provide educational downloads too. Check out more of Fae’s Journal to read more.

Voice Volume Chart

Voice Volume Chart

December 15, 2024 / faebell

The post A Construction Zone is Stressful appeared first on Fae’s Journal.