By Shaliyah Howell ’25
On Wednesday, October 30, 2024, around 1:35 pm, Derby High School went into a real lockdown. When the principal, Jennifer Olson, announced on the loudspeaker that there was a lockdown, I was terrified. This time, it wasn’t just a safety measure, but an awakening for the whole school.
Faith Gallishaw ‘25 said during the lockdown, “I was scared, I texted my mom because I didn’t know what to do.” Other students were as afraid as she was. People in the classroom were talking about the Sandy Hook school shooting. This school shooting happened in 2012 and there was a mass shooting by the perpetrator Adam Lanza. That shooting was very close to us. Lanza fatally shot 26 people, including children and teachers. These kids were as young as 5 years old. There is no indication of why or what caused him to do it. That incident was the deadliest school shooting ever in Connecticut and U.S. history. There have been around 76 school shootings this year in the U.S. 24 were college campuses, and 56 were K-12 schools. The incidents left multiple adults and children seriously injured or even worse, dead. According to Statisa.com, 4, 288 school shooting incidents were recorded in K-12 schools in the United States in 2024.
A lockdown is nerve-racking for everyone because it makes people feel unsafe and uneasy. Normally, people would think school is a safe space for everyone where we can focus on doing our work, hanging out with friends, and much more. But when that announcement came, everyone’s moods changed. The lack of information made it worse and made the atmosphere feel uncertain. The rumor was that someone from Ansonia High School was armed and came to Derby High School. After hearing that, multiple students went down to hide under desks. It shook me that not everyone in the classroom took it seriously. People in the school were unsure if it was a drill or a real lockdown, so people were still doing their work. I felt unsafe in that classroom and if it were a real person at our school, armed and dangerous, who knows what could’ve happened that day?
The Raider Press 