‘Chaos’ confined to one classroom

When I read the Tuesday article, “Lockdown means chaos in Marysville high school,” I was not only appalled by the way my school was portrayed, but shocked at the level of “chaos.”

The article mentions a class wherein a teddy bear was lit on fire, and students had their hands taped together; while this class was apparently in chaos, it is the only one I have heard of that was truly damaging.

I am a sophomore who was in a math class during the lockdown, but my class played games of Chinese checkers, Go Fish, Uno, and Bop-It while our teacher graded papers. From what I’ve heard, most classes were relatively calm.

Teachers e-mailed the main office to ask for someone to escort students to the restrooms, to ask for bus/sports updates, and to count the number of kids in each class so they could bring lunch. Our principal came on over the loud speaker every 10-20 minutes to give us an “update on the situation.”

As for the staff not being prepared, there doesn’t seem to be a lot more they could be prepared for. Should every teacher store 30 down pillows, and 30 cotton sheets? Or have hotplates so students can have cocoa and Mac-n-Cheese? Realistically, each teacher could store granola bars, crackers, and other foods in their room in case of times like this (they could even store 30 Twinkies; they would last until the teacher stopped teaching).

I’d like to point out that third period was about to end when the lockdown began, so half the day was almost over. Last year we had three or four snow days and in the 2003-2004 school year we had a teacher’s strike that lasted well over one month, I think we’ll all be able to handle a half-a-day setback.

Tess Raley

Marysville-Pilchuck High School student