Last week, Thursday, during sixth period the overhead speaker came on. Everyone stood in silence while we waited only a split second for what we thought would be a small announcement. Mr. DiMascio came on the speaker. What he heard over the radio was a child banging around a room. He believed it to be gunshots and thought that staff and Mrs. Morgan – who was in the guidance office at the time – was getting hurt. He quickly went into action and was calm enough to call out on the overhead speaker. We all heard his shaky and very serious voice as he tried to stay as calm as he could as to not frighten anyone, “This is a lock-down. There is a situation in guidance.”  The Lakewood Times was able to have an interview with Mr. DiMascio that gave us good insight of what it was like to be in that situation. Here’s how it went.

What was your first thought?

“Just to keep the students and staff safe. After that I relied on my training that the school had us do.”

What caused this panic?

“A student was upset, and when students get upset they get loud.”

What did you do afterwards?

“I would call 911 after I made the announcement and then we would debrief after the incident(s) and see what had to change, what went well, what we could do better.”

Hearing this as what the staff or maybe even the board would do afterwards made us feel relieved. Hearing that they will try to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Do you agree with the idea that teachers should be armed?

“No. I am 100% against it.”

Why?

“I think it would change the relationship between staff and students. The trust just wouldn’t be there between students and staff in a very unhealthy way. I want everyone to know that they are safe and trusted. I do however understand that people just wouldn’t trust others if teachers were armed.”

Thank you for doing this. Is there anything you have to say?

“I just can’t imagine a worse day if it were to be real.”

We thank Mr. DiMascio for acting in bravery as he did his best to keep the staff and students safe.

After furthering out research, we found out that 45% of adult Americans believe it to be a good idea staff should be armed. What’s the difference between a student with a gun and a staff member with a gun? Who’s to say they won’t turn the gun on their students? What happens when one teacher gets angry and has the means to hurt a student? That exact thought made us think about what our principal would say to these questions. Would Mrs. Morgan say anything similar? That exact thought is what made us go straight to the boss!

What was your first thought?

“Just is there something else going on other than what’s going on here? For a split second I thought that something was going on where Mr. DiMascio was.”

What did you think/do after the incident?

“I thought about getting an email out to the parents, staff, and students. Thinking that, I called my boss, the superintendent, making sure she knew what was going on and that everyone had to know what was going on.”

Do you agree that teachers should be armed?

“No. I think even with the best intentions something could go wrong. As is, if it is locked up well, what could go wrong? I think it’s a good idea that SROs are armed because they have the specific training to use them properly.”

Is there anything else you would like to add to the school newspaper?

“Just so that everyone knows that their safety is in our thoughts and we try our best to keep them safe.”

Doing these interviews made us remember that our school cares about our safety. Most people would think of their families, which most likely all of us students did. The staff and administration thought of us first and put the school before themselves. We thank all the school staff for keeping us as safe as possible. And please, if you see anything suspicious/alarming tell a staff member and let them handle it from then on. We hope this article gives you a good view on what our school tries their very best to do and will give you hope if this ever actually happens.