My kid didn’t get shot today

Today, one of my son’s classmates brought a gun to school.

I don’t know why this 17-year-old had a gun in his backpack. I don’t know what he planned to do with it. I don’t know if he intended to harm someone, or if he was just being stupid and reckless in the way that teens are stupid and reckless. I might find out when this student comes before the Board of Education for a disciplinary hearing, because I’m on the Board of Education. Eventually, we’ll all learn what the police can tell us.

Officers from the Youth Services Unit were able to take this student into custody without any trouble. The reason the police were there was because someone told an administrator that this student was bringing a gun to school, and the administrator called the cops. This situation went about as well as it could have, and I am so grateful for that.

I’m also shook. My kid wasn’t even at school this morning, but the what-ifs are horrifying—not just for my own son, but for all the students at his school, for teachers and staff, for our community. On the one hand, I feel like I’m maybe overreacting. On the other hand, this should not be normal.

I am also heartbroken for the student with the gun. Whatever his intentions were when he put that gun in his backpack, that decision closes a lot of doors for him. I’ve been to enough disciplinary hearings at this point to have a sense of how this is going to go, and it’s not going to be good. This young person hasn’t ruined his life. This might even get him whatever kind of help he needs. But turning things around is going to take a lot of time and effort.

This is not the first time this has happened in my district. I think our safety protocols are pretty good and I am glad that we have used every incident like this to remind students that there is an anonymous tip line they can call—or text, or email—if they suspect that someone is a threat. If you have kids in school, I suspect that your district has something like that, too. Please make sure your kids know about it. Make sure they know they won’t get in trouble if they call in a false alarm. Make sure they know that they’re not a bad friend if someone close to them poses a danger. It’s possible that the person who tipped off the school administrator saved this student’s life. I do not like to think about what might have happened if the cops had shown up with sirens blaring and weapons drawn.

I will also say this: I used to be adamantly opposed to the idea of cops in schools. Being on the school board has changed my perspective. Our Youth Resource Officers know our schools and know our students, and I would rather have them responding to a crisis than cops who don’t know our buildings and don’t know our kids. They also have the knowledge and experience to make judgment calls that other officers might not be able to. I know that good people have honest disagreements about cops in schools. I also know that I live in a small city where public safety seems sincerely invested in community policing. If I lived in a city where cops get surplus gear from the Department of Defense and a demonstrated desire to be an autonomous paramilitary organization accountable to no one, I would probably feel differently. But this is where I’m at.

I don’t have anything wise or insightful to say. I wish that our kids didn’t have to worry about being murdered at school—and I promise you that they do. I wish that we were doing a better job of caring for them, and that includes the kids who bring guns to school.

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