Photo: TikTok
Why does it need to come to this?
By Kurtis Condra — Written on Jun 03, 2022
As the United States mourns the lives lost in a school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, teachers are feeling more fearful than ever about the safety of themselves and their students.
The first of 21 funerals have begun, and Uvalde parents are saying goodbye to their children, who they lost.
A Texas schoolteacher released a TikTok video showing the reality of what it means to be a teacher and how far one will go to keep their student safe.
The TikTok video shows the safety measures teachers use to protect from shooters.
"The reality of being a teacher is making sure your door can quickly lock in case there's an active threat," Taylor Mora says in the video.
"It's having a window cover you can quickly pull down. Loving natural sunlight but having to pull down your window covers so no one can see inside your classroom."
She narrates her TikTok showing everything she does, from locking her door, pulling down the window cover at the front door, closing the window cover not allowing sunlight to shine in, and going inside a cupboard, showing she has a safe space when there is an active threat.
"Creating a plan but knowing that it even may not be of use as you or your kids could be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Mora adds later.
Comments on her TikTok have all echoed something similar.
"It shouldn't be this way. I'm sorry we ask you to do this," one user writes.
"I'm a primary teacher in Australia, and this isn't even a thought process for us. Breaks my heart that this is a reality for a large number of teachers," says another user.
This is the reality we now face; a school where students go to learn, make friends, and grow is now a battleground. Parents are now fearing that when they drop off their children, are they ever going to see them again?
The Uvalde shooting has caused fear across US schools.
18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary, killing 19 children and two teachers. When this occurred, reports emerged that local law enforcement initially refused to confront the gunman.
At the same time, Ramos was barricaded in a classroom for forty minutes before being shot by a border patrol agent.
Since the new year began, there have been 233 mass shootings reported by the Gun Violence Archive. Why has it come to this? Why must parents fear for their children's life when they go to school?
Why must teachers now face the reality of something they were never trained for? How can they protect their students against something that everyone is going to be afraid of?
Kurtis Condra is a writer for YourTango living in San Francisco California. When he's not looking for news and entertainment, he's passing the time writing poetry in his journal hoping to one day show the world the work he does.