School lockdown reinforces need for lanyards

All+teachers+were+instructed+to+follow+lockdown+procedure.+Photo+by+Khang+Vinh.

All teachers were instructed to follow lockdown procedure. Photo by Khang Vinh.

The unexpected happened yesterday when reports revealed that there was a man walking down Chapman near the FUHS campus with a knife at around 7:40 a.m. Principal Rani Goyal immediately put the school in lockdown. Students who arrived on campus for 1st period were told to go to the nearest classroom they could find.

“I had no feeling. I have a responsibility to do, and I can’t feel sad, or upset,” said Goyal. “When I go into crisis mode, I can’t have feelings, they will get in the way of me protecting everybody.”

While teachers pulled in students and locked the doors behind them, expecting the worst, students were still arriving on campus. With all the doors locked, they were told via the announcements to go to the front office and show their school ID’s. However, this job was made increasingly difficult as more and more students didn’t have their IDs visible on their persons.

“This is an extreme reason of why we need to wear IDs,” said Goyal. “When the time comes that all I know is that someone is walking around Fullerton with a weapon, I won’t know who that is. So unless a student can come to me and show me their ID, I can’t let them in the doors.”

Goyal said she was baffled by the student body’s continued resistance to the lanyards. “I don’t know why this is such a difficult thing to do, all I’m asking is to help us—admin—to keep you safe. Wear your ID.”

“We do not live in a society where we can not wait until something happens, we need to be proactive to ensure nothing happens,” said Goyal. “Which is why I’m asking everybody—I am pleading with everybody—to stop making this the hill to die on. Please wear your ID.”

No one was hurt or injured, and the lockdown ended 20 minutes later, with everyone resuming their normal schedules.