Saturday, December 3, 2016

A Lockdown for Nick

I am standing in the hall of my school on Friday, and my custodian shows me a text that the other custodian just sent him.  It was a news notification that Mueller Park Junior High School was under lockdown for an Active shooter.  Well, that is where Nick goes to Jr High.  I said well, thats where my son is.  Wow.  I was very calm.  Rumors were flying, and we were all on KSL.com reading the updates.  Michelle and Mark were all texting me to make sure Nick was ok and  was it my school because the news once reported a Bountiful Junior High...well I am in Bountiful...It was crazy...

I heard at first that the kid had brought a gun to school to shoot the Science Teacher.  Well, Science teachers are a bit difficult to get along with..............haha...That ended up not being correct, but that the kid shot the gun first into the ceiling in a Science room.  If you are at Mueller Park, the first door you come to (not the front door) is right by the science room.

It ends up that the kid was acting wierd at home, and after the parents dropped him off at school, went home to check and the guns were gone.  So they raced back, and they were the ones to grab and tackle him before the police got there.  The kid entered the classroom, and a student and a the Science Teacher talked to for a minute and distracted him...(according to what we heard) I guess he fired a shot into the ceiling.

The entire school goes into lockdown after that.  That means, each classroom is locked, lights out, out of sight.  You pass around a piece of paper and write everyone's name on it so we know who is in there.  Then you wait for the police to come, knock on the door, let themselves in, and clear the area. I think MPJH was on Lockdown until around 12:00...Not sure.

Nick texted me and asked me if I could pick him up. No I had to work,.  He could stay.  So, in a while, Michelle texts and emails me that Nick keeps asking if she can pick him up...she said she could go get him, but not without asking me....so I said no...then I said okay.  So Michelle went to pick him up.  It was a bit more complicated...you had to go and wait in the Church gym across the street.  Sign a paper and wait.  They went to get students in groups of about 15.  They entered the church then, entered on the stage of the cultural hall.   They called the parents up and you entered the curtain to your child on the stage. (I think thats the way.)  I told Michelle to just be me.  We look alike.  It would just be easier.  She is on the official checkout form.....but who knows what the policys were for that day.  She texted Nick and said she was his mom.  I told her she needed to hug Nick so it looked like it was his kind loving mom....she said she did.



Here is the pic from the gym of people waiting. Michelle said it was more crowded when she got there.

So, THANKS to Michelle for stepping up and picking up Nick when his mother said he could stay.  She said that she would have felt bad because everyone's parents were there to pick them up and if you didn't get picked up it would be sad.  So THANKS!!!  He went to Gmas house and hung out until I could get there to pick him up.  


Here is Nick leaving Gma's house after.  He doesn't seem any worse for the wear.

Then that night, the two wards down by us had an event at the church that the bishop chatted with them and had some treats.  Just so they could chat, debrief and know that the Ward Leaders loved them.  Nick was there for like 90 minutes.  I thought it was super nice.  The next day, Nick said he was sick of talking about it.  I can understand that.

The interesting part to this, is how it all played out.  It was exactly as our School has practiced a  bunch of times.  We drilled...and I know not to open the door to anyone, even if they say it is a policeman who doesn't have a key.  The POLICE have a key...I am not sure I would know what to do if the shooter came in my room and shot my ceiling....we haven't drilled for that yet...My kids were teasing me that if the shooter were downstairs at my school and shoot at the roof, it would probably hit me because I am upstairs.  haha

Someone posted on Facebook that parents, students, teachers, counselors, administrators, policemen were all doing their very best.  Really that makes me emotional.  I can't imagine a better compliment.  And I can't imagine a better outcome.  No injuries.  

Oh and our school was under lockout for about an hour.  Because we didn't know if there was another partner to the kid at Mueller.  We are so close and kids have friends at both schools...We lifted it in about an hour.

Wow.  A good ending to a potentially horrible situation. 


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