On Thursday, November 30, 2017, Salem High School parent visit program “A Day in the Sun” turned out horribly wrong.

Around 8 am the school went on lockdown because of a loud noise.

Bill Harris, Kempsville High School’s principal, said that nothing that could have definitely prevented this, but on “kid to kid” terms it probably could have been.

“The better we are as people at understanding the moods, behaviors, etc. the more likely we are at preventing it,” Harris said.

Harris emphasized that there just so much hate in the world.

“We are human beings of free will, and people show free will in hurtful ways.”

Harris said that staff hear so much about the warning signs.

Freshman (at all schools) at the beginning of every year go to the “I Need a Lighthouse” assembly to learn the warning signs of suicide. Students at the assembly learn that people need to talk to adults or others about their situation to get help.

Harris said that there are procedures that happen when schools go into internal lockdown. Schools lockdown because of the lack of information so they can deal with the external forces (the “crime scene”) and internal forces (“the people inside”).

Harris stated that situations like this “get confusing really fast.”

Harris said that Salem High School did respond appropriately and this was handled as smoothly as possible by trying return to the normal way of operation through opening the school the next day.  

Around 3,000 people were directly involved in the suicide that happened on November 30th.  

“So many connections it was just an incredibly sad day for everyone,” Harris said.

“If there’s a message in this,” Harris said, “We all have a responsibility to help one another; to be kind to one another. If we could all do that we would have an amazing world.”