We Should Be Thankful by Joanna Rosen

These past few years have certainly been rough ones for MHS. It seems like everything is constantly changing. From the child porn scandal, to the debate over eliminating the science block, to two bomb threats in one day. What hasn’t gone down at MHS? Being patient with our school’s administration and putting up with seemingly ridiculous rules and schedule changes that can be infuriating. During the two evacuations on the day of the threats, I remember being bitterly annoyed at the fact that I was outside in the freezing cold for an hour and a half.

Everyone I talked to was annoyed. This was wasting our time and cutting into peoples’ lunches; the rest of the day would now be disrupted. My friends and I complained to each other throughout that first 45 minutes, and then again throughout the second. Why couldn’t they just send us home? Or take the threat for what it surely was: a silly, irresponsible joke? The whole thing seemed to be blown entirely out of proportion, and I couldn’t help but be angry that my time was being wasted outside in the frigid snow.

Then they told us we could only bring plastic, seethrough bags to school? And that we weren’t allowed to use our phones at all? Everyone was angry. Why wouldn’t we be? This year was the first time we were allowed to openly use our phones when we weren’t in class. It was absolutely wonderful; we no longer had to ask our teachers if we could listen to music while we worked independently, and we didn’t have to hide our phones while walking down the math wing. Mr. Millington had given us something amazing, and now he was taking it from us. He’d let us have a taste of freedom before ripping it away. Of course we were all angry.

But then I remembered something that hasn’t happened at MHS: an actual bombing. We’ve been fortunate enough to have avoided this. Maybe these precautions were a little far-fetched and outrageous, but it shows that we’re protected and cared for. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be mad, but I do think we should consider all potential results before rushing to accuse our principal or school administration. Every year we hear about school shootings and think: “Well, that could never happen here. This is Marblehead.” But no one ever thought it would happen in Columbine, or Sandy Hook. If you Google “school shootings in the past year,” you’ll find copious amounts of pages listing school shootings in the U.S. Just because it hasn’t happened here doesn’t mean it won’t, or that it can’t. These incidents may take place in schools far away from us, but they do happen. It’s important that we keep this in mind and try to gain perspective before condemning our school for over reacting to silly threats. The Yik-Yak threats were likely jokes; maybe someone trying to get out of a test or something. But the way our school’s administration rose to the occasion and called in the fire and police departments proves that they are not taking any chances. The aggravating rules about see through bags and no phones were instituted to protect us. Is it possible that this whole thing is the result of a joke gone wrong? Yes. Is it reasonable to assume that our school will take no chances when it comes to its students’ lives? Also yes. We shouldn’t direct our annoyance and aggravation at the MHS administration. We should be grateful to have such dedicated school officials and thankful that nothing bad has happened to us so far.