Many parents in the United States are nervous in the midst of a spate of school shootings and forced lockdowns by the police.
The 19 September, another high school in Texas, United States, went into emergency and was secured against intruders after reports of a possible attacker.
At the news, numerous parents packed the premises and refused to leave the matter in the hands of the police, which led to a confrontation.
It was a false alarm, but the incident reflects the generalized anxiety faced with the threat of school shootings after the Uvalde massacre -in which they died 19 children and two teachers- last May.
Now, a family described to the BBC what happened inside and outside the school when the police they forced their way into the classrooms, while the parents tried to despair carefully take their children out.
“My heart stopped”
The 20 November, Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas , went into emergency after the alarm of a potential threat with a firearm.
Several of the parents of the students were informed of the situation by text messages sent by her own children.
“At one in the afternoon I received the text: ‘Mom, I’m scared,’” said Christina Morales in an interview with the BBC, weeks later late.
The message was from his daughter Cassandra, who with her brother Pedro attended the Jefferson school.
“First we heard the noise of the sirens in the distance, and that was when my heart stopped and I said to myself, ‘this is real, really real’”, expressed Cassandra.
“I said to myself, ‘You know what? I’m just going to send my messages of love to the closest people. close to me’”
The two barricaded themselves inside their classrooms along with other students.
“We put two book shelves in front of the door so that no one could enter”, Pedro described to the BBC.
Like Like many other parents, Christina Morales immediately headed for the school grounds.
“The faster she ran, I felt like I was never going to get there,” she declared.
“We act like parents”
Crowds of parents and relatives gathered in front of the school that was under absolute confinement, l or that it meant that all the students and teachers were locked up and no one, except the police, had access to the premises.
It was a false alarm, but the authorities had to continue with the security protocol and although the policemen repeated “nobody is hurt”, the relatives tried to reach their loved ones.
“You feel powerless as a mother”, said Christina Morales of the desperation she suffered.
Tensions between the parents and the police intensified. One of the parents broke a window with a knife and many others were arrested.
“A lot of people are saying we overreacted,” said Christina. “We act like parents, concerned parents.”
Jefferson High School is about 125 kilometers from Uvalde. The place where 19 children and two teachers were murdered in May of this year.
The local police were criticized for having taken more than an hour to make him face the attacker and kill him. For many it was an example of the flaws in the system.
“The situation that occurred in Uvalde has filled our hearts with fear. And it’s going to stay there for a long time.” “I don’t trust the police”.
- Massacre in Uvalde: the images that show the “regrettable failure” of the police to wait in the school corridor during the shooting that left 21 dead
Increased anxiety
Experts associate the enormous anxiety about possible school shootings with collective trauma suffered by the Uvalde tragedy.
“Those perceptions of a potential incident can further traumatize us, or at least increase our anxiety,” said Scott Woita szewski, Psychologist at the University of Wisconsin, specializing in educational psychology.
“It’s not about adults stopping being emotional. We do not expect parents and caregivers to become robots after a crisis. It is understandable that we react and do not worry and give us anxiety”, Dr. Woitaszewski explained to the BBC.
Cassandra Morales showed videos she took with her mobile of how the police entered the classrooms, describing that , in his case, the uniformed officer entered with a protective shield.
“It will not be the same again, especially when you’ve been through this and witnessed it all. We should be safe in a school, we should feel safe inside our classrooms”, insisted Cassandra.
Scott Woitaszewski said that in the United States there are some 125.19 schools and that are still relatively safe.
“I don’t want them to stop having anxiety, I don’t want them not to feel fear. But I also don’t want them to go to the other end of the spectrum where there is extreme anxiety,” he explained.
“They should enjoy the school, they should be safe at school, feel that safety, and they’re not feeling it. After what they’ve been through, they’re not feeling it.”
City police say they hope to regain the trust of the community by working with the school district to improve communication in the future.
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