The high school went into lock down today at about 1 p.m., right toward the end of 4th period. That was miserable. Apparently, some girl said that two Mexican boys had guns, so we went to lock down and the cops were called. When said po-po arrived, the girl said she was only kidding. We stayed in lock down.
In lock-down mode, we lock classroom doors and kids are supposed to sit against the wall between the two doors, out of sight of the windows on the doors. Twenty-five seniors won’t fit in that space. I had kids sitting there, in closets, behind bookshelves moved around to hide them, and behind (and under) my desk. Teachers didn’t have to be out of sight (worrisome?), so I sat at my desk and worked on a test for a while, until one of the little brats sitting on the floor with me started farting. The stench! So I went back to pacing the room and trying to keep the others settled down.
The cops, a principal, another teacher, janitors and our ROTC sergeant went room to room scanning students and checking bags. Lockers were searched. The bell rang for the end of 5th period, which is also the end of school, and still they wouldn’t let the kids leave. I had my 4th period kids in class from just before 11 a.m. until 2:45. I kept thinking, "Any class but this one." They’re seniors. Most of them are jocks. One of those always drinks this muscle-building stuff at about 12:30. Pretty soon he was griping that he had to pee. Girls were complaining that they had to pee. They wanted food. They thought that, although I was in the room with them, where they could see everything I did, somehow I was getting information they didn’t have.
Had this happened 15 minutes later I would have had my 5th period with me. AP seniors, and only 11 of them. Show choir girls, mostly. They would have sang. They would have read. They would have acted human. I would not have a throbbing headache.
This came two days after two custodians were fired for stealing from multiple classrooms. They took $21 from my sophomore class cash box.
Earlier last month two of our current students were arrested for robbing and murdering a pizza delivery man. Over the past week two former students have also been arrested in relation to that incident. The kid who allegedly pulled the trigger was in my summer school class in 2007 … until he got suspended and arrested during school for threatening the principal when he was sent to the office for cussing in the hallway. He’s 16 or 17. The pizza guy had a wife and baby. The school handled the arrests by forbiding talk of the incident.
I still wouldn’t trade this job for any other I’ve had. Now, if I could have this job and the Conoco salary, that’d be sweet.
Steven E. Wedel 
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