Friday, April 20, 2007
4/20 Weirdness
What a strange day.
The morning was pretty normal. We had our last day of TAKS testing (yay!) which was over by lunchtime. During lunch the fire alarm starts going off. Normally we just groan and go outside, but today was a little different.
Yesterday, we got an email from the principal cautioning us to be extra careful today for several reasons. Today is Hitler's birthday, the Columbine anniversary, a couple of days after the VT incident, and it's 4/20. The date is significant because teens think it's "Pot Day" due to the mistaken belief that 420 is the Penal Code for Marijuana possession.
Aaaaanyway, some of the teachers were a little freaked out about having to go outside for the fire alarm because that would be the perfect opportunity for someone to mow down a large group of people. Really, they were worried about that just because it's today. Well, since you haven't seen anything on the news about it you know that everything was normal.
At the end of the day, right before the last bell rang, the principal came on the speaker system and made an announcement. She announced that the students did very well during this week of testing, and the teachers had all worked very hard so the students should leave campus as quickly as possible so the teachers can go home at 3. She added that students should not use the central stairwell that goes through the cafeteria because an even was being set up in the cafeteria. I thought this was a very polite way of telling the students, "Get the hell out of here so we can go home!" I commented on this to a fellow teacher who told me there was another reason for the announcement. Apparently, there were rumors that someone was going to shoot up the cafeteria after school. Students and teachers were a bit freaked out about it. Again, nothing happened.
I'm glad this week is over.
The morning was pretty normal. We had our last day of TAKS testing (yay!) which was over by lunchtime. During lunch the fire alarm starts going off. Normally we just groan and go outside, but today was a little different.
Yesterday, we got an email from the principal cautioning us to be extra careful today for several reasons. Today is Hitler's birthday, the Columbine anniversary, a couple of days after the VT incident, and it's 4/20. The date is significant because teens think it's "Pot Day" due to the mistaken belief that 420 is the Penal Code for Marijuana possession.
Aaaaanyway, some of the teachers were a little freaked out about having to go outside for the fire alarm because that would be the perfect opportunity for someone to mow down a large group of people. Really, they were worried about that just because it's today. Well, since you haven't seen anything on the news about it you know that everything was normal.
At the end of the day, right before the last bell rang, the principal came on the speaker system and made an announcement. She announced that the students did very well during this week of testing, and the teachers had all worked very hard so the students should leave campus as quickly as possible so the teachers can go home at 3. She added that students should not use the central stairwell that goes through the cafeteria because an even was being set up in the cafeteria. I thought this was a very polite way of telling the students, "Get the hell out of here so we can go home!" I commented on this to a fellow teacher who told me there was another reason for the announcement. Apparently, there were rumors that someone was going to shoot up the cafeteria after school. Students and teachers were a bit freaked out about it. Again, nothing happened.
I'm glad this week is over.
