When the Next School Shooting Is Always One School Day Away

Being a parent in America is terrifying

Text from my daughter during what turned out to be a false lockdown alarm on 1/12/22

I live in America where there are many things to worry about when it comes to my teenage daughter’s safety. I endure a daily buzz of intrusive thoughts about bullying and drug use and depression, all of which can end the life of a child.

I worry about violence from angry kids with even angrier parents. Fights ticked up at my daughter’s school around the holidays last year, just as Omicron began burning through the school, taking teachers and kids out indiscriminately.

I worry about eating disorders and car accidents and cyberstalkers with nefarious intentions.

And, of course, I worry about guns, a concern that’s so ever-present it faded into the darkest regions of my always-worrying brain until December 16th, 2021, the day I got an email from my daughter’s high school about a Nationwide TikTok threat.

The email was brief. It said the district had been made aware of TikTok threats about school shootings and other violence that could potentially occur throughout the US on December 17th, 2021.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are increasing our security and supervision at all of our school buildings and working closely with local law enforcement.”