Column

Fear again becomes part of kids' lives

It came among the typical backpack trappings of a 7-year-old.

There, along with the corrected math paper with the "good work" sticker, a spelling test (one wrong) and the homemade Valentine decoration for Mom and Dad, was a letter from school superintendent John Long. It concerned the "safety and welfare of your child."

Long sent the letter to tell us about the precautionary steps being taken in the schools after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft raised the Home Security Advisory System safety alert to orange -- high risk.

Long said there is no known threat to Pasco County or the schools. Still, his letter was sobering. All the more so because of its inclusion with my daughter's school papers.

Long said he sent out the letter after receiving about 10 calls from concerned parents.

"We don't have any information about any kind of threat," Long said. "We have the same general information as everyone else. But people are reading advice in the paper and seeing it on the news, and they wanted to know what we were doing. We thought it was a good idea to communicate with parents about what we are doing."

Along with increased adult supervision and inspections of visitors and deliveries to the schools, Pasco principals have been asked to review lockdown and evacuation plans, Long said. "We just want to make sure everyone's familiar with what they're supposed to do."

Plans are also in the works for a meeting with the superintendents of surrounding counties on the issue of school safety, he said.

That the school system is addressing our children's safety should be of some comfort.

I guess.

Still, one who comes from the Cold War's "duck and cover" generation cannot help but rue the fact that my children now belong to the "duct and cover up your windows with plastic" generation.

Nuclear war was a scary and all too real prospect back then. The drills that had us cowering under wooden desks only added to the fear.

That was something I never wanted my own children to experience.

I was one of those parents who made a conscious decision to leave my children in school on 9/11. I honestly felt they were safe where they were. I didn't want to unduly alarm them.

But now, old fears are renewed.

We're being told to stock up on food, water and materials to cover our windows -- a scenario not unfamiliar to Floridians during hurricane season.

I now count myself among the many who are rethinking excursions to crowded places.

Our plans to get a Florida resident "fun pass" at Busch Gardens have been put on hold, even though the weather is beautiful these days.

For once, my racing fanatic of a husband wasn't whining about not having a ticket to the Daytona 500.

Even so, come Tuesday morning, I'll be standing on a corner waiting for the school bus with the middle school kid, just like any other day. An hour later I'll drop the 7-year-old off in the elementary school car loop and watch her go on her way.

Then, just like my parents did so many years ago, I'll say a prayer for saner times.

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