Muffins with Mom – What do you do when going to school becomes dangerous?



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Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today’s post is not about MLK Day, but there is a similar thread that ties this post to one of Martin Luther Kings, speeches. In his 1963 speech, Dr. King spoke about freedom and racial justice.

Today I broach the subject of a different kind of freedom….freedom to attend school in a safe environment. Last week I was fighting a cold. This week I am fighting to make sure my college son is safe in his dorm.

It was late evening as I sat at my computer working on my latest writing project. I took a break to chat with my mom on the phone. We hadn’t talked long when her other line beeped. She couldn’t see who was calling, so I disconnected so she could take the call.

After a few minutes, my phone rang. It was my son calling from college.

“Ma can you talk, is your voice better?” he asked.

“Yes, I can talk much better now.” The laryngitis I had the week before was gone.

He went into the reason for his call. “I just found out that Joe was robbed and they pulled a gun on him.”

My heart was racing. Joe is one of my son’s friends who is from our area. My head filled with all sorts of questions. I started with, “Is he okay? Did he report it? Where is he now?”

Joe was robbed at gun point in his own dorm room. The intruders had taken his worldly possessions, but I’m glad they had not taken his life.

As my son and I continued to talk, he gave me more details about the incident. I told him I would pray for them and I would also call Granny (my mother) and let her know about the incident.

He said, “I just called her so she could pray, but the call dropped in the middle of her praying.”

So that was the call my mother had to answer while I was on the phone with her. I was glad that I’d hung up for her to take the call. My mother is my prayer warrior and this seems to hold true for my son as well.

I told my son that I would call Granny back when he and I were done talking and that’s what I did. We talked further about the incident and safety on a college campus. I don’t have many answers today, but more questions.

What do you do as a parent when you feel your child may not be safe at school (consider the age of your child)? Do you move him to another school? Do you call the president of the school?

Suppose you receive a call saying someone has a gun at your child’s school, what is your immediate reaction?

My son and others should have the freedom go to school and feel safe.