https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:50:39 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1288058 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 23:58:59 +0000 Emsmems 1288058@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was a freshman in high school when Columbine happened, which was less than 10 miles away from my high school. (And Arapahoe HS is about 10 miles in the opposite direction). A lot of kids at my church went to Columbine. We went to the memorial in the days after and left flowers and stuff. So it was pretty scary and emotional. We were all nervous going to school the next day, and the next year on the anniversary, but we learned we couldn't just live in fear and we had to move on with our lives. It's just so sad how much more common it has gotten. It does make me wonder what it will be like in 15 ish years when my son will go to high school (or ole been in 5 when he starts school). I hope something changes. </p> <p>Our news stations said they would stop giving school shootings so much attention to decrease the "notoriety incentive" but they won't stop covering Arapahoe, so that only lasted until another one happened in CO! Very frustrating! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287770 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 21:39:51 +0000 Sapphiresun 1287770@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've never been personally affected by a school shooting. </p> <p>It don't really know if it makes me nervous to send LO to school eventually. I kind of feel like bad stuff can happen anywhere and you just take reasonable measures to prevent what you can.</p> <p>In general, my husband is a police officer, and the protocol for a school shooting is "first responders go in in a triangle of three and expect at least one of you to be shot and one of the other two to take out the threat" so at this point that scares me more than the chance that LO would be at a school where this happens.</p> <p>We're in Canada though, so these things don't seem to be as rampant as in the US. We live close to the border and go to Washington state often though, and the idea that anybody could have a really powerful gun is somewhat disconcerting in general. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287592 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 20:22:19 +0000 lilteacherbee 1287592@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have not been personally affected, but being a teacher, it's on my mind a lot. After the newtown shooting, I was so shaken up and scared that something similar could happen at my school. Now that I'm also a mom, it worries me even more :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287549 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:59:11 +0000 Mrsbells 1287549@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I worry about this a lot. But nothing seems to change in terms of gun laws. It's sickening to think of it so I try to block the fear out of my mind. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287543 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:53:53 +0000 brownie 1287543@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had active shooter training at the college I teach at this year. I live next to an elementary school and mid semester we came out and heard lockdown over the intercom from the school. My first instinct was someone with a gun near the school. But it was a guy driving around town with two people in his trunk shooting at people. The school was running out to cars and hustling students into the gym. My college and my sons preschool weren't notified at all. I got my information from Facebook. Response is getting better but information isn't. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287539 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:47:14 +0000 yoursilverlining 1287539@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>A close friend of one of our close friend; her little son was murdered at Sandy Hook. :(</p> <p>" But when nothing happened after Sandy Hook, I can't imagine anything changing." YES, this. I have no hope for serious, responsible gun control legislation OR additional mental health funding in this country, which makes me sad for our children and the violence that is routine in their lives. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287528 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:36:18 +0000 cmomma17 1287528@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I live four hours from Blacksburg. At the time of the shooting most people I knew had already graduated from VT, except a close friends little sister was a freshman (she was unharmed).<br /> Both of my bosses though (two in a row, current and former) were VT students at the time (one undergrad, one grad) and were deeply affected by it. </p> <p>I think about it a lot. I work at a college so it's always in the back of my mind as a possibility. The shootings at high schools, and elementary schools? Just heartbreaking. One of the teachers killed at newton was the mother of a college classmate of mine. :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287497 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:19:42 +0000 swedishfish 1287497@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jedeve: yes, I teach 4th and 5th graders so they understand. We've also had three "real" lockdowns in addition to drills this year so they know we practice to keep everyone safe. I tell them it's just like a fire drill except we stay in the building. I put real in quotes because the issues were outside the building and not directly related to my school. It's just located in a bad area. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287484 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:08:15 +0000 knittylady 1287484@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I haven't been personally affected and I do feel scared about sending LO to school in the future. My younger sister is so freaked by the lockdown drills that she no longer goes to use the restroom during class for fear of being locked out. :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287421 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 18:32:13 +0000 MsMamaBear 1287421@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not personally. When I taught middle school, we had to go on lock down and I had to keep the kids calm. The police got the guy before anything happened. I teach Pre-K at a daycare now, so the doors are always locked. We (and the parents) have to enter a code just to get in the building. I love it. My daughter is a student here, so it's nice to know she's safe. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287385 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 18:10:51 +0000 mrs. 64 1287385@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jedeve: If pressed I say "this is what we would do if someone came in the school who wasn't supposed to be here and we needed to stay safe." After Sandy Hook though, even the 2nd graders know what it means. I was shocked last year how much tv coverage parents let their littles watch about it and what they came to school reporting. :sad: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287358 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:50:17 +0000 jedeve 1287358@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. 64: @swedishfish: Do the kids get the scenario they are practicing for? How do teachers explain it?</p> <p>I remember as a kid practicing fire drills so much I just assumed at some point in my life, a building was in would be on fire. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287353 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:48:58 +0000 mrs. tictactoe 1287353@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have never been personally affected, but I'm a teacher and now that I'm a mom, I think about it almost every day. I now keep my classroom door shut and locked all the time to make it more difficult for someone to come in. I'm definitely scared to send Liam to school one day. But I know that the chances of something happening to him at the mall or park or on the sidewalk are the same at school. We live in a scary world. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287344 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:45:41 +0000 swedishfish 1287344@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. 64: right? Practicing lockdowns is scary for the students. I always know when it's a real lockdown because I can hear the police helicopter. My school is not in a good area. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287341 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:42:17 +0000 Mae 1287341@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I haven't been personally affected, and my LO is not born yet, but they do make me nervous for the future and also because my mom works in a school. I know the security in my mom's school is not great (typical suburban "we don't have that sort of problem around here" mentality). Luckily she's retiring this year. I'm sure I will be nervous about this once my kids are in middle/high school. I don't think I'll worry too much in daycare or elementary school because although it has happened, it is SO much rarer than the student going to their own school in their teens. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287339 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:39:22 +0000 artsyfartsy 1287339@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not affected me personally or anyone I know. It does make me nervous though, although in my high school (and I'm assuming surrounding high schools and other schools in the same district) we had a couple armed officers patrolling at all times so that makes me feel a bit better if my kids end up going to school in the same area I did. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287330 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:34:58 +0000 mrs. 64 1287330@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Only in the sense that we regularly practice lockdowns at school. I get that they are necessary, but they are scary for me and the kids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287308 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:27:42 +0000 pui 1287308@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The closest I've been affected by a school shooting is while I was in college, a college only half an hour from us was shot up and a student died. That left us all very shaken for sure. I haven't been directly affected though.</p> <p>I guess I have a false sense of security because I live in Canada and while there has been school shooting here, they haven't been as rampant as in the States... so I guess I am not too afraid to send my (future) kids to school. I do feel better about our decision to likely send our kids to a private school (not bullet proof, but a private school is much less likely to have a shooting than a public one).</p> <p>@Lindsay05: I agree with this. I feel like the main problem is that a shooting has become great way for some troubled guy who is otherwise nothing to go out in a blaze of glory. As a society we are always way to concerned with the murderer (probably because of our "how could this happen?" mentality) and not enough attention is given to the victims of these crimes. As a result, we make it more enticing for others to commit similar crimes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287303 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:24:02 +0000 deactivated_account 1287303@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm always basically nervous about crowded places, but school schootings in particular made me not like the little neighborhood elementary school I went to as a kid. It has "open" type classrooms. I don't know how that school could go on lock down. A gunman could just wandered through all of the classrooms. If I ever have a LO, I will not send him/her to that school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287286 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:09:10 +0000 Lindsay05 1287286@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have not been affected by school shootings and they concern me only because of the way the media covers it. It is a tragic event but continually talking about the shooters sickens me. They are portrayed as heroes. Focus on the victims, discuss how to stop it and handle it and move on. The victims need more respect IMO. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287268 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:02:32 +0000 Beyond2 1287268@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have never been personally affected by a school shooting, but they do make me very upset :-/. DH and I have wanted to homeschool our kids from the start, not for this reason, but it does certainly make it seem even more appealing. Unfortunately this isn't limited to schools, just going out in public seems to put you at an increased risk these days :-( its very sad. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-school-shootings-affected-you#post-1287258 Tue, 17 Dec 2013 16:59:16 +0000 jedeve 1287258@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I kind of mean this question in two ways.</p> <p>1) Have you ever been directly affected by a school shooting?</p> <p>2) Do they make you concerned to send your kid to school?</p> <p>I was in college during the VT shooting. I grew up right outside of Blacksburg. Someone I went to high school with was shot and killed. My sister worked on campus at the time. Both of my sisters lost friends.</p> <p>And yes, it does make me nervous. I hope their is substantive change before LO goes to school. But when nothing happened after Sandy Hook, I can't imagine anything changing. </p>