Mountains, Guns, Misogyny…too big for me

What the title says plus some SEO that I don’t know

On Mondays I open the new post box and write directly into it. No planning. No editing. Apologies ahead of time. These used to be funny. So double apologies.

It wasn’t too many Mondays ago that I found myself forced to write about gun violence. A 16 year old was shot and killed in front of my son’s school. Like. Right in front. On Wednesday two deans were shot by a 17 year old student during a routine pat down that existed as part of his security plan. You might have heard about it. It made international news.

You can probably tell that I am once again struggling to be funny. If you want to scroll to the bottom you could see Basset Hounds running. The photos will be my humor proxy.

I am wicked liberal (and also from the Boston area as you 617s can tell from my choice of adjective.) I think that armed officers in schools send brown kids to jail. I think is the incorrect way to begin that sentence. Armed officers in schools send brown kids to jail. Even if they are called “resource officers.” Giving kids second and third chances to attend high school is

You know what?

I can’t even write this. I am writing as a parent. A liberal parent but a parent first.

Way way before he worried about shootings. Or I worried and he was used to it. Please note that crocs are back “in.”

I want to link to studies and eloquently state my case. I want to explain policies that protect keep tens of thousands of kids out of the criminal justice system, benefitting them and ALSO our society. Yet.

(Confused about benefiting v. Benefitting? I can easily link to an explanation about that. Seems more simple than gun control.)

There have been three shootings since September involving students at my son’s school. The first was at the rec center which is directly across a small street from the school. It is where L plays ping pong with the club he started and then attended thrice. The next shooting was in front of the school where L parks his car. Wednesday’s shooting was in the school lobby. The teachers survived but the kid was found dead with a (likely) self inflicted gun shot to the head.

Where is the next one?

Steve and I, like presumably many of the parents with the means to do so, have looked at options to pull L from his school. Moving back to Vermont, buying a house in the suburbs. Renting a house in the suburbs. Switching to another Denver Public school that has had fewer than 3 major shootings this year. We could do this but the reality is that nowhere is safe.

L will go back to his school. Be with his friends. Play ping pong at the rec center (assuming he deigns to attend his own club (won’t join any club that would have him as a founder?)) Park on the esplanade. Walk through the front doors into the lobby. We will wait for the texts and emails telling us that there is a “re-unification” site in City park for parents. We will watch videos of officers in full swat gear ushering weeping kids down the beautiful broad staircase. We will strategize about side streets that might be more safe to park on.

On a Reddit thread a Denver resident posted that it was negligence to send one’s kid to East. If you had asked me ten year’s ago if I would have allowed my child to return to that site I would have laughed at you. I would like to say that we are staying in the community to make it a better place, to advocate for change, to help teachers. Really we are staying because L doesn’t want to leave his friends, we don’t have another clear option, and it has become normalized.

Really we are staying because L doesn’t want to leave his friends, we don’t have another clear option, and it has become normalized.

It’s not just specific safety concerns that make East feel unappealing to me. It is also the way the school will try to combat those concerns. A (very large) group of parents have specific demands. Some are dreamy. Additional professional mental health staff for students and kids. Additional in school behavioral support. Other demands make me worry about L’s Highschool turning into a prison-like place. (More so than every teenager has reported all throughout history.) What will that look like if parents have their way? Armed officers (already arranged). Metal detectors (how they will get 2800 kids in and bags searched I guess will be the staff’s logistical nightmare to handle) Removing doors from bathrooms. Prohibiting hoodies. Making a rule against walking in the hallways during class. Taking away lockers.

I do want to note that safety plans (whose individual details can not legally be shared) don’t just exist solely to protect the general population of the school. They also exist to protect the individual students. Kids who have suicidal ideation, tendencies towards self harm, etc can also walk the hallways (except not during class) because there are adults who are officially charged with helping them stay safe from themselves.

Mental health support, gun control, broader use of red flag laws. It all needs to happen. But in the meantime L will sit in his Spanish classroom with no desks watching kids have panic attacks while they wait for the next lockdown which really might not be a drill.

As for mountains and misogyny? I might have to save them for next Monday. Those topics will keep.

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Where do you feel safe? Literal or metaphoric, I will take all suggestions.