I got a call from Steph yesterday around noon. Her voice was shaky and she said, "Mom, there was a shooting at school and I don't know where Dad is." Double whammy...worrying about the trauma your 16 year old daughter is experiencing as her school is in "lockdown", and knowing that your husband is, second to the school cop, one of the first people called to help in any potential dangerous situation at the school.
I reassured Steph that he was probably ok, but not likely able to answer his phone at the moment. About 20 minutes later he finally called to tell me he was fine. Turns out that the shooting was a block or two away from the school, still a bad situation, but made me feel better to know it didn't actually happen in the school.
Not surprisingly, it was gang related, and both sides were students at the school. Unfortunately the boy who was shot did not make it, which is horrible not just for the obvious reason that a young life was unnecessarily cut short, but that an entire school is now left feeling sad, scared and vulnerable.
Steph doesn't want to go to school this morning, I don't blame her and I'm not going to force her to go. The students are fearful that the ruthlessness of both parties involved will lead to retaliation. I would think that there will be enough added security at the school that the students should feel safe, but I certainly can't blame them for being nervous.
It just saddens me that our children have to grow up worrying about this sort of thing. And it breaks my heart to speculate that it will be even worse in another 13 years when my little Alex is in high school. My prayers are with both families today, the one who lost their son to prison, and the one who lost their son for the remainder of this life. I also pray that Kearns High will be able to come together and heal quickly, so that my daughter can have some semblance of the carefree teenage years that every kid deserves.
It Is Enough
6 years ago
5 comments:
seriously so scary, I'll be honest when I heard about this I was so glad Jeff and I weren't teaching there this year, because to be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn't have gone to school today either!!! I am glad that steve and stephanie are safe and sound!
How scary! A parent's worst nightmare. What a sad situation for everybody involved and what a scary world this is for our children. It's good to hear that everybody in your family is safe and sound.
oh my that's awful. I'm glad to hear your hubby and Steph are ok though! Geez, I have a friend that lives a couple of blocks away from kearns... I should check up on her!
This is so so so sad. My cousin goes to the same school as Steph...and she feels much the same way. Fear, and scared. It doesn't seem fair that this is still happening in this day and age...when will people learn? Very sad.
That was such a huge shocker! It's so scary. I hope she's holding up okay. I'm sure glad my dad's not teaching there anymore!
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