Student felt 'worst 32 minutes' of her life during lockdown

By Meg Heaton

The day got off to an unusual start for Hudson High School junior Taeja Kluge and got even more so as it wore on.

When students arrived for school Friday they were stopped at all entrances where teams of police and school personnel sat at tables and searched every student's backpack and jacket. The search was conducted in response to a message found written on a boys' restroom wall on Wednesday that indicated the high school would be bombed on Nov. 5.

Kluge said students were told Thursday afternoon to remove any padlocks from their lockers before they went home or they would be cut off to conduct a locker search that evening.

Kluge said the search of packs and jackets didn't seem "too thorough" to her. "They just seemed to push the books from one side of the pack to the other and just sort of squeezed your jacket to check for things in the pocket.

Because of the search, the start of school was delayed but when she did reach the first classroom, there was masking tape over all the lockers, file cabinets and cupboards to indicate that they had been searched.

According to Kluge, that was it until near the end of third hour health class, around 10:25 a.m. Class was interrupted by an announcement from Principal Beth Lanning who told teachers and students not to leave their classrooms at the end of the hour but to remain there and go into "lockdown." She remembered that Lanning's voice sort of "cracked" toward the end of the announcement. "We knew it was for real when we heard her."

Kluge said the students knew what "lockdown" meant - that classroom lights would be turned off, the door would be locked and all students would be moved away from the door or any windows. The procedure was initiated last spring after the shootings at Columbine High School and the subsequent bomb threats at HHS.

Kluge said at first students didn't move but within five minutes most of the 20 students had left their desks and huddled or sat in a corner of the classroom.

"It was so strange. We were studying stress and ways to relieve it in class that period. I had just finished a paper on how to use meditation to relieve it," said Kluge.

Kluge said students reacted differently. One girl began to cry softly. It didn't seem to affect the boys as much as the girls. The girls around her began to talk about "anything to take our minds off what was going on."

"We talked about a trip to the Mall of America last year when we got into a fight over something stupid. But we talked about religion, too, and some people prayed. We talked about crazy things. The worst was not knowing what was going on. All I know is that is was the worst 32 minutes of my life."

Kluge remembered that teacher Gerry Uchytil moved toward the windows to block the students' view of the campus. "I don't think he wanted us to see any cops coming or anything. He kept talking to us. He was very calm through the whole thing."

Kluge said there was a lot of talking going on in her classroom but when they listened for next door, it was silent. "We got teased for being the noisiest room around."

Once the all clear was sounded, Lanning came back on the public address system and gave the students a limited explanation of why the lockdown had been necessary. Kluge proceeded to her next class. She recalled seeing some students who appeared to be crying and still very upset.

At lunchtime, Kluge's teacher said students could eat in the classroom if they wanted. "Some kids were kind of freaked out because the cafeteria is right across from the library, just like it was at Columbine."

Kluge said the rest of the day things quieted down, but no student was allowed in the hallways between classes without an escort. "If you had to go to the bathroom or anywhere, you had to call down to the office and get a teacher or adult to go with you."