Whispers, scared looks, panic. 

“I heard a student pulled a knife at a teacher.”

“I heard someone threatened to shoot up the school on Friday.”

“I just think the younger classmen are out of control.” 

What do you believe when violence is so common in school? Who do you trust with the right story when the teachers don’t even know what's going on?

It was Friday, February 9th, 2024, and everyone at Arrowhead High school was in panic. Students were calling and texting home. I was calling and texting my mom, maybe she knew what was going on. The thing is no one truly knew what was going on. 

My mom told me she was going to call the office… there was no answer. She tried again. No answer. She left messages for my brother and I and I walked to sign myself out. There was a 10 person line to sign out. That had never happened before. 

I saw the attendance lady, she looked stressed. I hear the phone in the background, no one was going to pick it up. Katrina Wimmer is her name. She has been in the attendance window every day since I’ve come up to North campus. There were too many students trying to sign out at one time. Too many parents in panic for Mrs. Wimmer to have time to answer their calls. 

I noticed the students just talking over her, not truly listening or acknowledging her time and efforts to help us leave. It’s my turn, I give her my student ID number and name. I say thank you and move quickly out of the way to keep the line from growing too long. An additional five people walk towards the line. I feel her anger yet don’t see much of it. 

I walk away thinking of all the phone calls she will have to listen to once the day is over. The time she will have to spend listening to scared parents will be very time consuming. People don’t think about her job as difficult but today I saw just how difficult it can be. Listening to the voice mails for the students, hoping all the phone calls will match up with the names of the students she signed out. 

I’m thankful there was no true threat. Although what if there would’ve been. She would’ve stayed there not knowing where the threat was and if any of us were going to be okay. 

 I wonder just how many phone calls she received and how long it took her to go through them all? Did many students say thank you? Was she aware of the rumored threat before we all began to leave in a panic? I suppose that’s what her job entails, but was she thanked enough? Did she feel appreciated that day?