I learned Sunday night that Rowan County Sheriff George Wilhelm and I have something in common: We both have a child who attends Southeast Middle School.
The sheriff and I sent our children to school this morning knowing that on Friday, someone found a “hit list” — names of students and teachers who supposedly were in danger at Southeast.
Over the weekend, school officials called the parents of students on the list. They also held an emergency meeting with teachers and law enforcement people Sunday night centering on a plan of action today.
The result: Students who did not attend school today out of fear were not marked absent. Also, on their arrival today, my son and his classmates went through metal detectors.
I’m sure someone probably checked his soccer bag and backpack. I’m guessing that the case he carries for his band instrument also received a once over.
Local television stations in Charlotte made the threat at the school one of their top stories on the 11 o’clock news Sunday night. That’s when I learned Wilhelm had a child at Southeast. On camera, he essentially told a reporter that he was sure the school would be safe enough today for his own child to attend.
My wife and I really never hesitated about sending our seventh-grader to school. We felt the school officials responded appropriately — they have to take anything such as this seriously. As parents this morning, we simply acted on the faith we rely on every day when our kids walk out the door. We believed they would be safe.
How could we get through a day otherwise?
With Columbine and the recent school shootings in California, the news media have to cover this issue — even the threats. It’s a shame, but it seems normal these days to walk by the newsroom’s television set in the afternoon and see an aerial picture of a public school campus where a shooting has just occurred.
The “Today” show this morning had a guest who gives tips to students and teachers on how to be safe when someone brings guns to school. This expert spoke of telling students the differences in “coverage” and “concealment” in trying to protect themselves.
A big tree offers good coverage — it could stop a bullet — while a hedge might be good concealment but not good coverage. He also told the interviewer how students should learn to run away from a gunman in a zigzig pattern, Bullets fly straight, you know.
This morning, referring to the threat at Southeast Middle, my wife (a teacher) said, “I hope the Salisbury Post only prints about two lines about this.”
Contained in that sentiment, I believe, is the feeling that the more we in the media pay attention to school shootings or the threats, the more likely it is that some lonely teen will spray bullets around his or her campus to gain instant celebrity.
Maybe the media eventually will ignore threats such as the one at Southeast Middle, much like we’ve come to ignore Ku Klux Klan parades or repeated bomb threats at the courthouse.
But for now, they get more than two lines. And my kid goes through a metal detector.
Today's News