Threats of mass violence at schools and places of worship
On Monday, my son’s middle school informed us that it had instituted a lockdown, which is called “when there is a threat or hazard nearby in the vicinity of the school or inside the school building. The Lockdown demands locking interior doors, moving students and staff out of the line of sight of corridor windows, turning off lights to make the room seem unoccupied, and having occupants maintain silence.”
Given the spate of school shootings in the United States – think of the horrors at Uvalde, Parkland, Sandy Hook, and Sante Fe – our mind immediately went to the thought of a shooter at the school. This is a parent’s nightmare.
In a twisted way, we were kind of relieved when we learned from a local newspaper that the school was dealing with a bomb threat. We knew that this was more likely to be a hoax. There are few if any salient instances of school bombings notified anonymously in advance compared to random school shootings in the US.
Fortunately, nothing happened. School was dismissed early after the lockdown ended. And about a thousand kids and their relieved parents were reunited, shaken but unharmed.
Yesterday, we received another email that my son’s school was put in a “secure the school” mode this morning due to another threat. A local news source noted that, “the school’s office received a shooting threat via email. Police responded to investigate around 10 a.m. and the security status was lifted about an hour and a half later, “adding that “This is just the latest in a series of apparent hoax threats at Arlington middle schools.”
I want to thank Principal Bridget Loft and the teachers and staff for handling these terrible events in the best manner possible. I also thank Arlington Country Police Department and Arlington County Fire Department for their rapid response and professionalism.
My first thoughts are with the teachers and school staff. Threats and violence are unacceptable in any workplace. Teachers have it hard enough as it is – trying to always do more with less. And now they have to deal with this? Forget schools, this shouldn’t happen anywhere.
I know there are a lot of serious events happening in the world that deserve our attention. In the face of those global events, these hoaxes might seem mundane. With just the second threat this week, I found myself dismissing it a bit more than the first time. It’s just a hoax, I thought.
Last night, I found out that there was a threat at a local synagogue. A local site provided details “that someone texted a crisis hotline that they had placed a bomb at the synagogue and were also planning to stab people inside” during a service for “kids under 6 and their families… sponsored in memory of a stillborn baby.”
None of this is acceptable and should not be normalized.
