A school student’s nightmarish text: ‘We are in a real lockdown and I’m scared’

By Jerry Davich

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    VALPARAISO, Indiana (The Times) — “We are in a real lockdown and I’m scared.”

My neighbor received this text Monday morning from her great-granddaughter, a Valparaiso High School student. They shared a frantic text exchange as emergency responders raced to the school.

“I wanted to keep her calm,” my neighbor told me.

Another neighbor pulled into my driveway as I was leaving to drive to the school. “I hear they found a gun in there or something,” he told me.

At 8:35 a.m. that day, the Valparaiso Police Department received notice of a potential threat to be carried out at the high school. “The threat indicated an explosive device had been placed in a specific location within the school,” a media release stated.

The school was placed in “lockdown” status while police and other departments investigated the threat. Social media lit up with posts about the situation, littered with rumors or exaggerations. Family members of teachers who worked inside the school scrambled for any details.

“Anyone know why VHS is on lockdown?” one Facebook post asked.

Few things get our attention faster than a school placed on lockdown, for whatever reason. One mother of a VHS student received this chilling text: “Our school is on lockdown. Love you.”

It’s a nightmare for any parent, grandparent or guardian.

Jerry Davich writes: “Few things get our attention faster than a school placed on lockdown, for whatever reason. One mother of a Valparaiso High School student received this chilling text: ‘Our school is on lockdown. Love you’.”

Two hours after police first received notice of the threat, the school began releasing students early for the day. When I arrived at 10:45 a.m., school buses were lined up for students as emergency vehicles filled the parking lot. Parents were arriving in their vehicles, including one of my neighbors.

“What’s wrong with our country?” he asked me rhetorically.

I just shrugged.

I told my neighbor that “public safety” has become an oxymoron in America the Ballistic because at any moment, at any location, our lives and safety could be in peril. There’s little we can do when an angry or victimized or deranged person feels compelled to pull the trigger on his inner rage.

He just shrugged.

A school student’s nightmarish text: ‘We are in a real lockdown and I’m scared’ Two hours after police received notice of the threat Monday morning, Valparaiso High School began releasing students early for the day.

As I drove past the school, I flashed back to my high school days. I don’t recall my school ever being placed in lockdown as police investigated a bomb threat or a shooting situation. My only memory is of police searching lockers for drugs and paraphernalia. They often found it all at Wirt High School in Gary.

Not once as a kid did I worry about a mass shooting or a public safety attack at my school or anywhere else. Today’s kids don’t have such peace of mind, in addition to the pressure-cooker, fishbowl experience of attending high school during any era.

We’ve gone from Columbine to commonplace in our country, as I’ve noted before. It’s no longer a question of if another school attack will take place, but when and where. Sadly, today’s teenagers are well aware of these circumstances. Tragically, so was the generation of teenagers before them.

A school student’s nightmarish text: ‘We are in a real lockdown and I’m scared’ In Crown Point in 2018, students read the names of Columbine High School shooting victims at an event recognizing the April 20, 2006, anniversary.

On April 20, 1999, two teens went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, before turning their guns on themselves and taking their lives.

It. Changed. Everything.

It changed how we once perceived schools as safe havens for kids. It changed how we looked at school security efforts, and failures. And it changed the mindset of children and teens regarding the possibility, even remotely, of an attack at their school.

This is the mindset for most kids who are past a certain age or threshold of awareness. Certain words and phrases have become part of their vocabulary. Mass shooting. Lockdown. Active shooter. Copycat effect. Manifesto. Sandy Hook. And “run, hide, fight.”

Forget about the school daze of yesteryear when we had silly fire drills. Students today know that their school could possibly become another Columbine or Sandy Hook or Robb Elementary. For some of today’s teenagers, it may feel like a game of Russian roulette and someone at their school may trigger another massacre in our country.

A school student’s nightmarish text: ‘We are in a real lockdown and I’m scared’ “Not once as a kid did I worry about a mass shooting or a public safety crisis at my high school. Today’s kids don’t have that kind of peace of mind, in addition to the pressure-cooker, fishbowl-experience of attending high school during any era,” Jerry Davich writes.

In 2006, I wrote this headline — “School security? Not quite.” — for a column that ran after three deadly school shootings took place in our country. These attacks obviously haven’t stopped since then. Forget about all the moments of silence afterward. We need more moments of responsibility. And accountability.

Despite being under the influence of youth, today’s generation of teenagers is watching these developments and taking mental notes.

On Monday afternoon, Valparaiso police released a statement to assure the public that its high school was safe: “The investigation determined the threat was not credible and building occupants were not in any danger.”

I’m not sure how many parents or students knew that Monday was Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. I have a feeling my neighbor knew.

She posted this on her Facebook page: “Thank you to the Valparaiso Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department, and all the teachers at Valparaiso High School … who kept us informed and who responded quickly and professionally to the lockdown at the school this morning.”

That morning, she felt frantic and desperate, even calling me for any details. It’s one thing when it’s an incident in another city. It’s quite another when it involves a loved one who’s at school and feeling scared for their safety.

“Today this issue became a reality for my great-granddaughter,” she said.

It’s already a reality for these kids, I thought.

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