I am a teacher.  I am a civilian.  It scares the living shit out of me that one day, someone could come into my school, and end the lives of people I work with, kids I teach.  Maybe even me.  And sure, that could happen anywhere.  I could be walking down the street and be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but how the hell can being INSIDE a SCHOOL be a dangerous place?  If anything, it should be the SAFEST place a person could be.

We do lock down drills every month.  And I have a plan in my head. What would I do if a gunman made it into my classroom?  How would I protect my students? Because they are MY CHILDREN.  I may only see them for 45 minutes a day, but they are mine.  And, yea, I would do ANYTHING to protect them.  

It is INFURIATING that the people who make the decisions about these things don’t seem to have a problem with the fact that our most precious gifts, OUR CHILDREN, are in harms way in the place they should be the SAFEST.  That they are willing to uphold the status quo rather than do what is right and just.  

More and more, I seriously ask myself why I started in this profession.  You tell people you are a teacher and they say, “oh, must be nice to have summers off.”  But the reality?  The reality is that my civilian self, without any type of police, rescue, or military training (beyond the yearly “active shooter training” presentation), must be asked to consider:  Where the best hiding spots are in my classroom? Where can my students can hide without being seen through the door?  What can I use to barricade the door?  What will I do if a shooter enters my classroom?  Why?  How is that right?  Fair?  Safe?  Seriously people, get your shit together.  

Why are there so many people leaving–or never entering the teaching profession?  We are underpaid, overworked, underappreciated…and now, we can add that our job, just, quite frankly, ISN’T SAFE.

People.  Don’t do it for us.  Do it for our children.  They are our future.  And right now, we’re letting them be gunned down in a place where we promised them no harm would come to them.  Where they would learn to be a part of a community, act as a responsible citizen, become a reliable friend.  Do we really want to live in a world where our children can honestly say, “I don’t feel safe at school?” Just.  Please.  Do what is right.  Not what is easy.  Not for me.  For them.

*steps off her soapbox and returns to her regularly scheduled blogging*