We're living in difficult times. Teachers have enough on their plates without having to worry about their safety and the safety of their students. Sadly, it's become part of the job that many teachers are constantly working on improving their approach to.
Kelsey Vidal is one of many teachers who has a plan in place for her first-grade classroom. She recently shared a series of videos on TikTok that has gotten many teachers thinking. In the videos, Kelsey shares some of the different safety measures she's added to her classroom to give herself and her students a better chance of getting out of a dangerous situation safely.
Kelsey shared a cubby in her classroom, next to the ones used for her students. The cubby contains a bat, a district-issued backpack of paperwork and supplies needed in an emergency, and her own "active shooter/intruder backpack."
First, Kelsey showed off the Barracuda. The tool is used to bar entryway into a doorway by clamping over the handle and barring across to the door frame. It can be adjusted for size to any doorway.
She also showed off her bulletproof backpack, a tactical-style backpack that unzips to be worn as a bulletproof vest. Inside, she has additional bulletproof plates that she could give "to a student or another teacher."
The comments were full of people saying that school shouldn't be this way, but also of teachers who were inspired. Over the course of the videos, many teachers have chimed in with their own tips and tricks for getting out of a dangerous situation alive.
