A lockout on Jan 24 left some Lincoln students feeling disgruntled and confused. According to the city of Portland Police Bureau, there was an active shooter downtown, around 3 p.m. This seems to have been the cause for the lockout at Lincoln.

The PPS website says that a lockout happens when there is “a threat outside of a school(s).”

Students and teachers are alerted to a lockout when an alarm plays in the classroom. This alarm comes through the intercom after being set off by someone in the office. Principal Chapman’s secretary, Helen Yoon, said that the alarm is usually set off by the first person to be informed of the incident.

To some students, the alarm can be confusing. To Lola Conopio-Mora, a freshman, the alarm is not very clear. “At first it was hard to tell the difference [between the lockout alarm and alarms for other situations] because it makes the same noise,” said Conopio-Mora.

Other students saw the lockout as an opportunity to joke with friends and didn’t take the situation very seriously.

Sophomore Caleb Dickson noticed this in his class.

”Everyone was taking it as a joke in my class,” said Dickson. “I made jokes because I thought it was fake.” Dickson’s class had a substitute teacher during the lockout. He said that the substitute was confused and did not know what to do. He said his teacher “thought it was a test or something.”

Conopio-Mora was also confused during the lockout, saying she “felt a little nervous because [she] didn’t know if it was an actual [lockout] or drill.” In Conopio-Mora’s class, feelings regarding the lockout were varied.

“Some kids freaked out because they didn’t know what was happening,” said Conopio-Mora.

Conopio-Mora agrees with Dickson that many students disregarded the lockout.

“I feel like people don’t pay close enough attention to what’s actually happening,” said Conopio-Mora. She believes that students should be more aware and cautious during future lockouts. “[Students] should take [lockouts] seriously, because lockouts can be very serious.”