Many parents in the United States are nervous amid a spate of school shootings and forced lockdowns by police.
On September 20, another high school in Texas, USA, went into emergency and was secured once morest intruders following reports of a possible attacker.
Upon hearing the news, numerous parents packed the premises and refused to leave the matter in the hands of the police, which led to to a showdown.
It was a false alarm, but the incident reflects widespread anxiety regarding the threat of school shootings following the Uvalde massacre – in which 19 children and two teachers were killed – last May.
In the United States there is widespread anxiety regarding school shootings following Uvalde.
Now a family has described to the BBC what happened inside and outside the school as police forced their way into classrooms, while parents desperately tried to get their children out.
“My heart stopped”
On November 20, Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, went into emergency following an alarm from a potential threat with a firearm.
Several of the students’ parents were informed of the situation by text messages sent by their own children.
“At one o’clock in the followingnoon I got the text: ‘Mom, I’m scared,'” Christina Morales said in an interview with the BBC weeks later.
The message was from his daughter Cassandra, who with her brother Pedro attended the Jefferson School.
“First we heard the sound of sirens in the distance, and that’s when my heart stopped and I was like, ‘This is real, really real,'” Cassandra said.
“I said to myself, ‘You know what? I’m just going to send my messages of love to the people closest to me'”
Both they barricaded themselves inside their classrooms along with other students.
“We put two book shelves in front of the door so that no one might enter,” Pedro described to the BBC.
Like many other parents, Christina Morales immediately headed toward the school grounds.
“The faster I ran, I felt like I was never going to get there,” he said.
“We act like parents”
Crowds of parents and family members gathered outside the school which was under lockdown, meaning all students and teachers were on lockdown and no one except police had access to the grounds.
It was a false alarm, but the authorities had to follow the security protocol and although the policemen repeated “nobody is hurt”, the relatives tried to reach their loved ones.
“You feel powerless as a mother,” Christina Morales said of the despair she suffered.
Tensions between parents and police escalated. One of the parents broke a window with a knife and many others were arrested.
“A lot of people are saying we overreact,” Christina said. “We act as parents, concerned parents.”
Jefferson High School is regarding 128 kilometers from Uvalde. The place where 19 children and two teachers were murdered in May this year.
The local police were criticized for taking more than an hour to confront the attacker and finish him off. For many it was an example of the flaws in the system.
“The situation that occurred in Uvalde has filled our hearts with fear. And she is going to stay there for a long time », highlighted Christina. “I don’t trust the police”.
increased anxiety
Experts associate the enormous anxiety regarding potential school shootings with collective trauma suffered by the Uvalde tragedy.
“These perceptions of a potential incident can further traumatize us, or at least increase our anxiety,” said Scott Woitaszewski, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin who specializes in educational psychology.
“It’s not regarding adults stopping being excited. We do not expect parents and caregivers to become robots following a crisis. It is understandable that we react and do not worry and give us anxiety, “explained Dr. Woitaszewski to the BBC.
Cassandra Morales showed videos she took with her cell phone of how the police entered the classrooms, describing that, in her case, the uniformed officer entered with a protective shield.
“It’s never going to be the same, especially when you’ve been through this and witnessed it all. We should be safe in a school, we should feel safe inside our classrooms,” insisted Cassandra.
Scott Woitaszewski said that in the United States there are regarding 125,000 schools and they are still relatively safe.
“I don’t want them to stop having anxiety, I don’t want them to be fearless. But I also don’t want them to go to the other end of the spectrum where there is extreme anxiety,” he explained.
“They should enjoy school, they should be safe at school, feel that safety and they’re not feeling it. After what they’ve been through, they’re not feeling it.”
City police say they hope to win back the community’s trust by working with the school district to improve communication in the future.
