We’ve seen 23 school shootings since the start of 2018. Ever since the highly covered school shootings in Parkland, Florida and Sante Fe, Texas, school administrators have been taking every precaution to make sure students and staff remain safe in case of an active shooter.
Now a photo of a poster with directions on what kindergartners should do in the event of a lockdown and written to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is going viral. It’s so important for children to know what to do if something were to happen, but it’s just completely and utterly heartbreaking to see the effects of our current climate.
According to the Boston Globe, Georgy Cohen was touring a kindergarten in Somerville for his 5-year-old daughter when he saw the lockdown poster written in colorful and bubbly letter with cartoons to go along with the directions.
It reads:
Lockdown, lockdown, Lock the door
Shut the lights off, Say no more
Go behind the desk and hide
Wait until it’s safe inside
Lockdown, Lockdown it’s all done
Now it’s time to have some fun!
Cohen immediately snapped a photo of the sign and posted it to Twitter. She wrote, “This should not be hanging in my soon-to-be kindergartener’s classroom.” The tweet has since gain over 30,000 likes and 13,000 shares.
This should not be hanging in my soon-to-be-kindergartener’s classroom. pic.twitter.com/mWiJVdddpH
— Georgy Cohen (@radiofreegeorgy) June 6, 2018
“When I was in kindergarten, we had fire drills. It was different – we didn’t have these same types of threats,” she told the Globe.
Cohen said she was relieved to see that the school is taking steps to educate her child on what to do in the case of a lockdown with the poster. Even still, she told the Globe that she was taken aback at what she saw as a sort of dystopian display.
“These are the things they unfortunately have to do,” Cohen said to the publication. “I get it.”
Her tweet has since opened up a serious conversation about school safety and the realities of gun violence.
It is terrifying and absolutely sad that teachers have to go to this extent to try to protect their kids from being killed. I’m currently in college as an early childhood education major and I never thought I would be scared of being a teacher this bad.
— Alexandra Nieves (@Alexnieves24) June 7, 2018
I am so sorry for all of you.?
.
Kids in Austria only know fire drills.
Which amount to a leisurely stroll to the school yard…
Thats how it should be— Nuclear Football (@EuphoricEuler) June 6, 2018
Omg this is sad that our kids have to learn a song like this as part of their survival strategy
— DramaFreeLeo ?????? (@DramaFreeLeo) June 7, 2018
My son just finished 1st grade and had to practice this and told me it made him so scared and he’s afraid of a school shooting. Again, he just finished 1st grade?
— Kara Goucher (@karagoucher) June 7, 2018
Before Columbine I remember fire & quake drills, which were scary enough. We lived close to a prison and had drills in case of an escape, but none of us needed to prep for a shooter decked out in body armor & military-grade firearms purchased in town. That came in highschool ?
— Allen M O’Brien (@allenob) June 7, 2018
This breaks my heart. What are we doing to our children? What kind of message are we sending them when we force them to do active shooter drills, and we do nothing to address gun violence?
— smokinpolitical #VetsResistSquadron (@imthe420nerd) June 7, 2018
Sometimes it’s the small reminders of the consequences of the daily impact of gun violence that can be the most jarring.