Lockdown 

By: Noah Shacket

On October 22nd, 2024, in the middle of fourth period, a soft lockdown occurred at MS447. 

Nael Raza, an 8th grader stated “When I heard about the lockdown, I was shocked. I hid under the table immediately after I heard the news. But Ms. Bell told me it was okay to get up from the desk. I knew that I wasn’t in danger because I knew there were grownups protecting me.” 

Students were locked up for almost an hour and a half in different places. Some were in the auditorium while others were locked up in classrooms. MS 447 students missed half of 4th and 5th period. During 6th period, while 7th graders had lunch at their normal time, 8th and 6th graders didn’t. The school provided lunch for 6th graders 7th period, while 8th graders had an extra 20 minutes of lunch between 6th and 7th period because they had some time to eat during their 4th period lunch. 

Mr. Moore, a sixth grade Social Studies teacher said, “I’m used to soft lockdowns, so when it first started it wasn’t a surprise, I was near my desk I felt happy that I had a convenient hiding spot. I was happy because I thought it would go over the next class period, but the longer it went on the more concerned I was. It also started to get annoying because I couldn’t leave my hiding spot and my back started to hurt.” 

After the drill, most classes had free periods because of all the stress from the soft lockdown. For example, Mr. Geneen took his 8th period class out to the courtyard instead of their usual gym class. A lot of people after the lockdown had a mix of feelings. Some people felt scared while other people felt overwhelmed and couldn’t work because of the trauma of the soft lockdown. 

In a lot of schools, a lot of soft lockdowns occur and they can be scary or traumatizing. Some people spoke out after the lockdown and said that it was scary and possibly one of the longest lockdowns they had ever experienced. This goes back to the time when all of our drills were actually drills. Sometimes drills turn into emergencies. Be safe out there, you never know if a drill can turn into an emergency.