“For a long time, I think, there was a sense of it just can’t happen here.” “No one can assume that, ‘Oh, this will never happen to my school’ anymore.” “Now I come to school thinking. ‘Yes, it could happen today.’” “We are the guardians of these young people in the schools. I feel that, in a way, we’ve been put on the front lines, whether we like it or not.” “I never, ever could have imagined that part of my job description would be that I may be asked to give my life to protect my children.” “They’re looking to me to say, ‘What is this? Why is this happening?’ ‘Do you think this will happen to us?’ ‘Will I be O.K.?’ I don’t have those answers.” “Something can fall in the hallway and make a loud bang, and that is something that gathers attention.” “You know, I go into different classrooms and I’m like, ‘Yeah where would I stand?’ ‘Where would I be if something started happening?’ I’m looking around and noticing: ‘Well, this classroom wouldn’t be very survivable.’” “We spend an inordinate amount of time on safety drills that we never did before, you know?” “If you don’t practice, I think it is more difficult to handle a crisis situation.” “There is a balance of, especially when you’re working with young kids, you don’t want to freak them out and make them feel scared to come to school every day.” “And as teachers, we had something called ALICE training, in Ohio. It’s an active shooter training, where they teach you things like how to barricade a door with desks.” “So in light of the recent shootings, I took a concealed weapons class.” “I thought about a club, or something that would not be easily identified as something for self-defense.” “All the teachers have walkie-talkies.” “I’m happiest when they give me a key to the school, the classroom door, because that means I can lock it.” “Having the doors locked throughout the day is protocol.” “It’s not an overwhelming pervasive fear every day. But it does sort of, you know, make me question those situations where it could go either way.” “I don’t think you can ever really know what you’re going to do in a crisis situation. So my hope is I would put my students first and, you know, do everything I can to protect them.”