Just another day in high school...

So you take an already-rowdy last period class... and you add in a bomb threat, a gun threat, and a pulled fire alarm.... what does that equal?

Today was a learning experience for me. I've been through bomb threats my whole life. I remember them from high school (how lame... forcing us to sit in the gym for an hour) and then my fateful last day at JSHS (remember Amy??), and again last week when we were calmly evacuated to busses for a few hours. Today was a whole other animal. Mass hysteria. The rumors were flying all day, and I'm not doubting that there are valid concerns and of course it should all be taken seriously. What really struck me though, is how these kids think this is all new and fresh. The old "The kid who's supposedly doing it warned his girlfriend and his friends not to come to school today, so it MUST be true!!" They think they're coming up with this stuff, when in reality it's been around long before they were born. They could not understand how we, the adults, were remaining calm.

I was perfectly honest with them about my opinion: the threats we SHOULD be worried about are the ones that don't get announced or panicked about. Seriously, the kids we need to be worried about are the ones in quiet desperation, they're the ones who need the most help. You just try to say to a room of 17 year olds "Think about it... if your honest intent was to blow up a building and hurt people, would you go bragging and warning people about it??" Logic means nothing in the face of fear (obviously, The Crucible's lesson apparently went unlearned, haha!) Still, when the zero-hour arrives.... YOU try convincing them that "On the off chance we DON'T blow up in 5 minutes, you've got two chapters to read for homework!"

What saddens me is, from the rumors I hear, I have several students who will not be returning to school tomorrow because of their involvement in false-alarms. Obviously they are involved with serious offenses and must pay the consequences. I'm also saddened because it is just pushing them further and further down the wrong path. And at least one of them, I had faith was going to make it and now I'm worried about him. I am going to miss what they brought to my classroom...