M’s field hockey game ended up being cancelled last night which gave us an opportunity to talk a little more about yesterday’s events. M said that about 11:30am the principal came over the loud speaker and told everyone to get to the classroom they were supposed to be in and to stay there. They did not have to lock the doors or get along a wall or anything. After about 30 minutes they were escorted outside to the football field. The police and their bomb sniffing dogs had cleared that area to make sure there wasn’t a bomb there and police had searched the area for any persons of interest. Basically they stayed there until the buses arrived to take them home. No one was allowed to stay at the school.

M said everyone was calm and it appeared to her that the police did a good job of searching the school. Her assessment was based on the fact that it “took forever.” Water was offered as was food, but food wasn’t available until the end when the school was deemed safe for staff to return to the building. She said it was hot, but not a big deal. Total they were outside 2 1/2 hours.

All and all it seems everything was handeled the way it should have been and it should be noted, different than it was handled last year when several of these threats were reported. I have no idea what prompted the change, but I am much happier with the new protocol as opposed to the old one of chaos and misinformation.

M said other than the bomb thing high school is really great. Apparently there is quite a looker in her Latin class which was what she wanted to talk about the most.

Yesterday was not my favorite day, but I learned a few things…my family did ok in the face of a crisis. Even though we were fairly certain the threat was not a real one we were still concerned. The odds were against it being a real bomb, but odds are sometimes wrong and I was still concerned that perhaps something might go boom. I did not panic or freak and neither did my daughter. I stayed home and waited for info which is not what I wanted to do, but felt it was the best thing. The newspaper did a good job of updating the situation as did the school. I didn’t fully relax until the whole family was safe and sound and in bed, but at no time was I crazy with worry.

Really thankful that nothing was planted and no one was hurt and extremely thankful that even though we keep getting these false alarms our town took it serious and made sure all was well. I worry about complacency, but actually have more confidence in the professionals of our district and town.

Hoping day 2 is less dramatic than day 1 and really hoping we are done with this kind of drama for the whole year.