Safety training

Once a year, my job requires emergency response training. I learn how to secure my space in case of an attack. I am taught to make basic distinctions between various firearms and how to disarm a gunman.

I teach first grade.

Each month, we have a lock down drill. After the loud speaker announcement, I lock my door, block our window, and turn off the lights. While I prepare the room, my students stop their reading, math, or science. They sit in a far corner of the room, in silence like some sick game of ‘hide and seek.’ In front of them, I try to smile to break the tension while holding my breath. We wait for the familiar sound of the door handle clicking — the sound that security or an administrator is making the rounds and checking that we followed protocol. After that sound, I can breathe again and the ‘what if’ scenarios in my mind can stop. Thankfully, I’ve never heard any other noises out in the hall. After a few minutes, someone in the office lets us know we can all get back to work. The children return to their desks, I turn on the lights, the pencils are picked up, and we continue with our day.

This is not normal, but it is quintessentially American. Countries with common sense gun control and restrictions for dangerous individuals do not live this way. We can do this. We can be better.

I am not asking for the removal of all guns. Nor am I suggesting that more rules will prevent all crime or tragedy. I am hoping that someday donations to lawmakers and the desire to own assault weapons become less of a priority than the lives of my students. We will be waiting in the corner.

— Jessica DeLuca, Robbinsville