My school called a code today. It was at a particularly tricky time right at a class change bell, but the tone of voice coming through the speaker was sharply and distinctly different from the typical “just a drill” announcement. It ended by telling kids to return to the class they just left.

We immediately locked down our area and tried to pull the kids out of the hall and into our rooms. I say “tried” because the number of kids that heard the announcement and saw us and heard us yelling for them to move who just rolled their eyes, laughed, even rolled their lip to sneer at us, all while the clock was ticking … I consciously gave up and thought “I got as many as I could” and slammed the door for the sake of the few who had followed the directions, leaving dozens of kids in the hall.…