Now that was kinda scary . .

Some days when I come home and tell my husband about something that has happened at school, he looks at me and says, "I think you would be safer if you worked in a prison". Our high school is like a city in many ways really with a population of 1895 people. You have your communities of individuals (Goth, hicks, jocks, skaters, Latino, drama, kids in the middle, Valedictorians, low income, high income, etc. etc.), you have your mayor (the principal), you have a police officer, a nurse, a community center (gyms/fields), you have the "normal" kids (whatever that is) and you have kids with mental health issues. With 1895 students you get some kids that have some real serious problems. A couple of weeks ago we received an email from the principal letting the summer staff know (there are only about 9 of us) that a student had made a serious threat to a counselor about their desire to confront and hold a high school staff member hostage. We were told if this student entered the building to immediately dial 911, that the police had been notified and to keep our doors locked while in the building (which we never have to do in the summer). This particular student lives within walking distance of the high school and apparently watches for a particular staff members car (no it's not me) to enter the parking lot. Well Monday it happened, the student entered the building (front doors were open for the summer school students to enter) and proceeded upstairs to pound on the particular staff members door that she wanted to see. This staff member did not open the door and the student proceeded to plop down in front of the door. When we were notified in the office that she was in the building we called 911 and let them know this student was on campus and to send an officer ASAP. It seemed to take along time, but it was only about 8 minutes and the police arrived. When the officers raced up the stairs to the room that she was sitting in front of the student had slashed both of her wrists severely, not an attention getter slash but an I want to die slash. Yes, blood everywhere it was horrible. The ambulance was called and the student was taken off someplace for treatment and hopefully admitted to some facility for a mental health evaluation. Due to confidentiality laws we don't know what happened. She had a knife, it was good sized, she could have used it on anyone but chose to use it on herself. Not very often do these kinds of incidences happen at school, but we do have some scary ones, I just don't bring them home usually like this one. Just like a city, not all the people that live there have their wits about them, I can only hope this girl gets the help she needs.