Things that are in bad taste:

~ wearing a black trench coat and combat boots to school the next day.
~ wearing a t-shirt with a target on it to school the next day.
~ discussing the emotional/psychological trauma of the man who did this as if you were the only person to whom it has occured that he must have been ‘troubled’.
~ criticizing the administrators for their lack of preparedness/slow response/lack of visibility/etc.
Believe it or not, I have witnessed all of these in the last day and a half.
The last one really gets my goat – there are people who have the cajones to take the Dawson administration to task because the admin didn’t make a press statement right away, or because the admin didn’t make an announcement on the PA, or because the admin weren’t out there helping the police, and so on.
What unmitigated gall.
Does it not occur to such critics that the adminstration is composed of people? People who were as dazed and confused on Wednesday afternoon as the rest of the people trapped in that building? People who were either running for their lives or taking shelter under desks, waiting for hours to get an all-clear? People who followed police orders to evacuate?
On the other hand, I have also witnessed students hugging each other in the hallways; teachers hugging each other, too (and we’re significantly less prone to PDAs); and letters of support, prayer and hope. One of my students showed me her poem, written yesterday, and brought tears to my eyes. A few of my students have stayed away from school, but the vast majority are in class, subdued, but moving forward.