Bomb

He who opens a school door closes a prison. ~Victor Hugo

The first thing I think of when I think "bomb scare" is Adrian Tomine's comic, which I read in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002. (God, was that really 10 years ago?!) It's exactly what it sounds like: the story of a bomb threat at a high school that is subsequently evacuated. "Bomb Scare" came to life for us a week ago, and it wasn't just a threat. The two so-called bombs, which were chemical mixtures in bottles, went off on two different floors... while state testing was going on. The incident made national news, which was the absolute last thing the school or district needs.

Two of the three students who were charged were mine. It pains me to think that either of them would knowingly endanger other people, because I've never had a serious problem with them and had an okay rapport with them (despite rarely seeing them due to their frequent absences). I find it a little hard to believe that they did it, but I suppose the police must have more evidence than has been revealed. It hurts to think that they have become another statistic, another mark against public school students and young black men in this city. There are good things going on here every day, but it's stuff like this that makes the headlines.

In the span of one week, we had two evacuations for deliberate trashcan fires, this bomb scare, a 2-period-long lockdown because of a bomb threat from inside the building, and firecrackers set off in a lobby area immediately after school. Crazy, right? People told me teaching would be unpredictable; now I really know what that means. This stuff makes me feel so helpless, though. How do we as teachers encourage and empower our students to stop doing stupid shit?