Clear Backpacks, Columbine, and the Colors of School Safety

In elementary school, our classroom’s wooden door displayed a laminated sheet that listed emergency drills, coordinated by shades of urgency. Green, yellow, orange, red. Fire drills were fun. We stole giggles and glances at friends and crushes as everyone lined up outside on the playground. Tornado drills - when we were sure they were just drills - took us into hallways to tuck our heads between our knees for a thrilling disruption to an otherwise routine school day. Teachers taught us to scoot under our tiny desks during earthquake drills. A couple of kids would get in trouble for twisting their heads around and shaking on their backs, clearly possessed by the demons of imaginary tremors.