Part One. Last night, I kept checking my email. The Internet was abuzz with a story about North High, where I teach. Stories were circulating, public opinion was high, and local news sources were releasing stories and videos of our school. But no email came early. I had some dinner, helped my kid with his math homework, watched Jeopardy, some episodes of Shipping Wars, graded too many papers, and went to bed rather early. It was around ten, and nothing was in my inbox. This morning I checked again before I left for school since NBC had our story on its crawl. Same deal. Even when I went to school today, I expected the teachers and staff would be called into a school meeting, or a district or school email would have been sent. Nope.
I am not an administrator, and I don’t know their rules or lines of protocol, and I certainly am not envious of the position they find themselves in here; but you would have had to have been under a rock at school today not to know the news tied to North High. And yet, 24 hours after the news crews rolled up on campus, teachers are still in the dark about how to direct questions and inquiries and concerns from others and themselves. It’s front-page news in the South Bay and on social media.
Part Two. The fire alarm went off during lunch. Someone came on the address system to tell us this was “not a drill,” and that we all had to go outside in our designated areas. Well, from what my students told me, and they could be wrong, it was the fog machine in the drama room. Whatever the cause, and I don’t expect to ever be told in an official manner, it made the entire school evacuate outside. Everyone in a similar area because of a fog machine.
Part Three. At the close of the school day, someone came on the address system to warn us that there was a live electrical wire on the ground, and if kids were walking home towards Crenshaw, they would have to take an alternate route.
To me, all three parts are shocking. https://youtu.be/qoqQnR8NOVI