Lockdown at School of the Arts

The school went into lockdown at 1:40pm. What's lockdown? Well, the free dictionary definition is rather alarming. According to that, lockdown is: &quot;The confinement of prison inmates to their cells as a security measure following a disturbance in the prison.&quot; The other two definitions also have to do with both high security and prisons. What this meant for School of the Arts today: I have it on good authority that someone was carrying a gun close to the school and when authorities at SOTA found out they put the school on lockdown. Since I have early dismissal from the building, an hour before all of this went down, I wasn't able to witness any of it. I'm relying on a member of the SOTA Parent Teacher Student Association and, I mean it's high school, so my best friend. <!--break--> Lockdown became &quot;lockout&quot; at 1:55pm. I guess this means that all people who left the building were strictly not allowed back in. From here on classes resumed as per usual. I received two recorded phone calls from SOTA: 1 explaining the whole situation, which I am still looking for a transcript of, and the other canceling all after school activities. The RPD and district security came to the school, as was mentioned by the recording and by the member of the Parent Teacher Student Association I'm corresponding with. It is NOT the official word, but it is believed that the person with the suspected weapon was outside the building. Also, tomorrow midterms begin and they are going to go on as scheduled. If I get a transcript of the recorded calls, I'll try and get them attached to this article.

<p>The school went into lockdown at 1:40pm. What's lockdown? Well, the free dictionary definition is rather alarming. According to that, lockdown is: "The confinement of prison inmates to their cells as a security measure following a disturbance in the prison." The other two definitions also have to do with both high security and prisons. What this meant for School of the Arts today: I have it on good authority that someone was carrying a gun close to the school and when authorities at SOTA found out they put the school on lockdown. Since I have early dismissal from the building, an hour before all of this went down, I wasn't able to witness any of it. I'm relying on a member of the SOTA Parent Teacher Student Association and, I mean it's high school, so my best friend.</p> <!--break--><p>Lockdown became "lockout" at 1:55pm. I guess this means that all people who left the building were strictly not allowed back in. From here on classes resumed as per usual. I received two recorded phone calls from SOTA: 1 explaining the whole situation, which I am still looking for a transcript of, and the other canceling all after school activities. The RPD and district security came to the school, as was mentioned by the recording and by the member of the Parent Teacher Student Association I'm corresponding with. It is NOT the official word, but it is believed that the person with the suspected weapon was outside the building. Also, tomorrow midterms begin and they are going to go on as scheduled. If I get a transcript of the recorded calls, I'll try and get them attached to this article.</p>