Reasons Why I Homeschool: School Lockdowns

I understand it doesn’t happen very often. But it does happen. Wait, it does happen often, it happens so much that we hardly think about it past the day it does.

Today there is a school on lockdown right now. They just sent a message out to the parents via their school webiste…

“Good morning parents of Bristol Central students, I am calling to inform you that our school is currently in a lockdown. The police are investigating a situation. Your students are in locked classrooms with faculty and staff supervising and are safe. Please do not come to the school to pick up your child. We will update you by phone and on our website as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.”

Um, what?!? What do you mean “Please do not come to school to pick up your child?!?” OK, I understand, if there is a hostage situation, guns swinging, bullets flying, I shouldn’t be there. Why is that even a possibility at a place of learning?

Sorry, but I will just keep my children home instead. At least if I end up in a gun slinging hostage situation, I will know where my kids are and exactly what is going on. And since most of my days are spent at home teaching my children, I think we are about as safe as we can be. Never mind my extreme clumsiness and my ability to get hurt standing still.

Situations like this highlight how (some) schools are losing control of the children they are put in charge with caring for and educating. Yes, I said CARING for. School is not only about learning just what you need to know to pass the standardized testing, everyone needs to get over that concept. School is about life lessons, teaching right from wrong, it is about actually paying attention when there is a student being bullied right in front of you, it is about NOT turning your back on a child because they are a “problem child”, or seeing through a situation and realizing that parent you thought was a flake is struggling to do the best in a bad situation. Being a teacher and being a school faculty member is about shaping our children and getting the most out of them that they have to offer, even in imperfect situations. The mental health of our children needs to be addressed on a daily basis, not pushed aside waiting for it to pass, or be passed on to someone else.

Forget about blaming lack of funding or budget cuts, because if the school is there for the community the community will be there for the school. There is no trying to go Above & Beyond, because there is no limit on teaching our children, there is no cap on how much a child can be cared for or taught. Saying “we are going the best we can” is not enough for our children who have to grow up in some seriously hard times. If a school is on lockdown for any reason, they are just not doing the best they can. Federal funding needs to match the needs of the schools if they are actually going to be the best that they can be.

When schools, and those who fund them realize this, lockdowns will not be a such common place in our schools.

And of course I know that there are perfectly awesome schools out there with no troubles and are doing a great job nurturing their students. Let’s not forget that, but let’s realize there is much more that happens within those walls and in the community that help them to get them that way.