It Was Like Something Straight Out Of a Made-for-TV Movie

After yesterday's lockdown I was a little scared to send the kids back to school today, but I sent them. The day was uneventful and they are safely home again. As far as what happened yesterday to cause the lockdown? This is what I know.
Our primary school is a very short distance from our courthouse. As in, walking distance. Spitting distance, almost. We had a trial scheduled at the courthouse. The defendant, on trial for what I would call a serious crime, decided to make some threats. He allegedly said that if he was convicted at his trial he had men in place....ready and waiting to open fire on "that little brick school down the block." This little speech/threat was, of course, relayed to the proper authorities and taken very seriously. I got a phone call at a little after 9 in the morning. My friend at the school was telling me that the school was in lockdown, but everyone was ok. I had Delaney at therapy so as soon as I could leave the therapy center with her, I started the drive back to Madisonville and went straight to the school. I was scared out of my mind by what I saw going on in the area surrounding the school. I've never seen so many state troopers, squad cars, and unmarked detective cars. It looked like something out of one of those made-for-TV movies. I was turned away before I could reach the parking lot. A nice officer informed me that I would need to turn around and head back home. Lockdown protocol wouldn't let me inside the school. I knew they wouldn't let me in before I even made the drive out there. I guess I thought I would feel better if I could see that they were protecting the school. They had police cars on all sides of the school, across the street, and all up and down the side streets. It was scary. The school stayed locked down all day and the children were blissfully unaware of what was going on. The officers inside the building were stationed at the exits and out of sight of the students. They were in the classrooms all day and sitting on the floor watching movies. They only time they left the room was to travel to the nearest restroom. Lunches were bagged and sent to the classrooms. All of the windows were covered with colorful paper so that no one could see out and no one could see in. They took every precaution possible to keep the kids out of harm's way. My friend called me several times to give me updates about what was going on. They weren't reporting anything about it on the news so I was glad to get the updates from her. Apparently, they only report school lockdowns if a violent act has already taken place there. Something about not wanting to scare the public. News travels fast in a small town anyway, so believe me, I was not the only panic-filled parent that took a trip to the school. About mid-day they received a report of a disturbance at the courthouse. Some men were arrested and a few more just seemed to disappear into thin air. Security was tightened at the primary school and the other schools were locked down too. It was at that time that I requested prayer for the students at the school. I was told that the police were sending men up to the roof of the school for surveillance. They really made it seem like the threat of danger was very real at that point. I think that is what made them decide to postpone the trial. It was abruptly ended (moved to a different day a few weeks from now) and the schools remained on lockdown until the defendant was returned to the jail and the police were able to come up with a plan to safely get the children dismissed from school safely. They had parents come pick up the children and they loaded them into each car, bringing them outside one child at a time until all of the students were picked up. I think it took them until almost 4:30 to get the last child out. I sat at home, near tears almost all day yesterday, just knowing that my girls were scared out of their minds. However, looks like I was the only one in McNabb Land that even knew what was going on. As I was leaving the parking lot after picking up Paisley, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Mom, this was the best day EVER! We had paper all over our windows to keep the sunlight out, a picnic lunch in our room, we got to sit on the floor all day, and we didn't even hafta do NO WORK! We just watched movies ALL DAY!!! I hope we can do all that again tomorrow!"
Oh, I hope not:)