My first year of teaching in 2012 was as a public, middle school, special education teacher in New Jersey. At the start of the year, we frequently had to practice our lockdown procedures with our students. I was directed to lock the door, pull the shades, and get all children in the far corner of the room, away from windows and doors. Then, was asked to step away from my students and take a sheet of paper and place it in a window. Red indicated we were in danger or needed help and green indicated that we were accounted for and safe. Either way, this method required me to step away from a group of students with special needs, and indicate any potential threat, that there were individuals located in my classroom. My gut told me that there had to be a better way to go about emergency preparedness in our schools, but as a new teacher, I was unsure of where to turn.
After then getting engaged, I moved to Maryland where my husband worked, and found a job at an amazing private school in Baltimore County, which is where I am still teaching today. In 2015, in my second year at this school, I was teaching 4th grade. In the transition period after recess when the students heading back to the classroom, the lockdown alarm went off and we all rushed to herd the students back into their respective classrooms. Much like in my public school, I secured the doors and windows and got my students into a safe corner of the classroom. I then was required to count all of my students to make sure all 16 of my students were accounted for. After counting multiple times, I frantically reached only 15 each time. As a fairly new teacher in my school, I did not have several cell phone numbers of the faculty members to see if this student could be located in another classroom. I ran to my computer to send emails out to see if I could reach anyone who had this student. Thankfully, after several pain-staking minutes that felt like hours, a teacher emailed me that this student was safe and in her classroom.
