Gordon --

> See the shootings in schools throughout the
> USA and watch the HOMESCHOOLING stats soar
> through the roof...one of the fastest
> growing trends in education.

We homeschool our children - but not because of school violence.

However let me relate a story that happened to me about one year ago. I had been invited to speak at a local high school to the Webmaster class. Decided to take my oldest son with me.

We show up and there are five policemen at the door. I tell the secretary this and ask if there is anything we should be concerned about. She says "There are two policeman at the front door 24 hours a day." I say "there are five there now". She gets one of those looks. I ask if there is anything to be concerned about. She unconvincingly says "no".

About that time three of the policeman quickly walk by. She gets another one of those looks. I say "should we (my son and I) be in there with you?" She very adamently says "no". I give her one of those looks.

My escort arrives and we proceed to the classroom. I ask the escort about what just happened and he says "you get used to it after a while." The escort is a good friend of mine and the reason for we are here in the first place.

A few moment later the fire alarm goes off. My escort says "Don't mind that - the kids set them off all the time." Okay I can do that.

Ten minutes later we are still the only people in the classroom and the escort says "Maybe that was a real alarm." We proceed to the parking lot and join the rest of the student body. Turns out to be a bomb threat.

Thirty minutes later we are back in the classroom and I start my talk. We are interrupted by the loudspeaker admonishing the kids on "we know who did this", etc. The talk is cut short to twenty minutes due to the "interruptions". Two kids out of the class showed any interest in what I was saying.

On the way home I asked my son what he thought about the public high school. He said he preferred his school.

-- Dan Butler