iStock/Thinkstock(BOSTON) — A Massachusetts mother posted a now-viral photo online of a kindergarten classroom poster explaining lockdown procedures through a rhyme.
Somerville resident Georgy Cohen, 38, was touring a kindergarten room before her 5-year-old daughter starts school in the fall, she told The Boston Globe, when a colorful poster caught her eye.
It read: “Lockdown, lockdown, Lock the door. Shut the lights off, Say no more. Go behind the desk and hide, Wait until it’s safe inside. Lockdown, Lockdown it’s all done. Now it’s time to have some fun!”
Cohen was not pleased.
“This should not be hanging in my soon-to-be-kindergartener’s classroom,” she tweeted Wednesday along with the photo, which has been retweeted over 35,000 times.
“When I was in kindergarten, we had fire drills,” Cohen told the newspaper Thursday. “These are the things they, unfortunately, have to do.”
Cohen, who did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment, added on Twitter Thursday, “The school is doing exactly what they need to be doing, and I am glad for it. My issue is with the political & cultural factors that brought us to this sad state. Please talk to your legislators about the need for gun reform.”
City officials defended the poster.
“This poem is an example of how one of our educators used a rhyme to help her young students stay calm and remember the key steps they would need to follow during a drill or real emergency,” Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Somerville Public Schools Mary Skipper said in a joint statement provided to ABC News.
“As much as we would prefer that school lockdowns not be a part of the educational experience, unfortunately this is the world we live in,” the mayor and superintendent said.
“It’s jarring for students, for educators, and for families,” the statement continued. “Yet we all know that one of the most important roles we have as educators and community leaders is to ensure that all of our students and staff members are safe and prepared in case of an emergency.”
But Cohen, who drew attention to the poster, said it’s also important not to normalize school shootings.
“To be shocked by it is important. To see that absurdity and horror and have that sick feeling in your stomach is important,” she told the Globe. “Stay outraged. And if it gets somebody to do something — to give money to an organization or to call their representatives … then great, I think that that’s important.”
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