The Great Lockdown

I wonder what my classmates are writing about. The bits I hear in class leads me to believe that they are asking questions about their students. On the other hand I seem to write mostly about me.

Starting Tuesday, we have been in a statewide lockdown. An offender on death row used a cellphone to call Senator Wittman's office. He told the senator certain personal facts about the senator's family. The Govenor was notified and all the units were locked down. Ther have been about 700 cellphones and cellphone accessories found on the units during the past year, 100 here on Coffield. The lockdown will last at least 3 weeks.

This week I can’t write about my students. Last week I spent several days on another unit training a new school counselor in our test administration guide lines. Monday I tested on my unit. And of course, starting Tuesday we have been in the Governor’s mandatory statewide lockdown. It is giving me a chance to catch up on paperwork and to pursue some of those projects that have been on my mind for awhile.

The security is increasing each day here. Tuesday the highway picket checked our ids. I have not seen that since the Texas Seven. At the front gate we were checked with the metal detecting wand. On Wednesday, the highway picket looked into my car through the windows. Inside the building we had to remove our belts and shoes before being scanned. Today, the highway picket actually had me open the back door of the van. Inside, we not only had to remove our belts and shoes, but we also were patted down before being scanned. The joke going around today is that tomorrow they start doing body cavity checks. The weather has turned cooler, so I hope they warm their hands first.