Today was one of the scariest days I have had as a teacher. At around 9:15 this morning, the principal came over the intercom system to inform us that we were officially on lock down and that it was not a drill. When a lock down happens, all windows and doors must be closed and locked. All blinds must be drawn, and all students and staff members must be inside of a classroom against the wall closest to the door so that if someone happened to look in through the window of the door, we wouldn't be able to be seen. As soon as it happened, I knew it had to do with the rivaling black and hispanic gangs we have. And sure enough, I was correct. More than twenty students got into a very large physical fight with one another and the police ended up having to be called to help break it up. Luckily there were no weapons involved and as one student resisted arrest, a police officer was injured and had to be taken to the hospital. In the end, nineteen students ended up getting arrested and the police and their K9s were crawling all over our school for the rest of the day. Every lunch wave had multiple police officers present with their K9s.
After school, an emergency faculty meeting was held and it was probably one of the best faculty meetings we've had. Many teachers voiced their concerns about their fear for safety not only for our kids, but for ourselves as well. My mentor teacher also spoke out as one of the first people to have responded to, what the news media is now calling, the "riot" and she was brought to tears as she described that she has been working in our school for 15 years now and she has never been as scared as she was today. She also said what many others were thinking: that this is not over and there will be more fights.
Many of us are nervous for tomorrow; we all feel that it's not over, and that it's only just begun.
They never taught me any of this in college....
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