On 6 June 2018, Massachusetts resident Georgy Cohen tweeted a photograph of a poster demonstrating a school's "lockdown song" for young children:
This should not be hanging in my soon-to-be-kindergartener’s classroom. pic.twitter.com/mWiJVdddpH
— Georgy Cohen (@radiofreegeorgy) June 6, 2018
Cohen said the words should not be hanging in her soon-to-be-kindergartener’s classroom, but did not offer any further information about the circumstances under which she viewed the poster. Lyrics written on the poster 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!
Commenters noted that the words appeared to be set to the tune of the Alphabet Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Cohen responded to add that her child participated in school shooting lockdown drills in pre-kindergarten classes:
Yeah. They already do the drills in pre K. Z was excited about it as a game to see if you can stay quiet for “one whole minute.” ?
— Georgy Cohen (@radiofreegeorgy) June 6, 2018
Some commenters debated over whether the poster was specific to school shooting drills, or if it was possibly intended to prepare children for any disaster:
You do understand this is for things like tornadoes right? Not just school shootings. You want your kid to be unprepared for a tornado? Lol.
— Johnny Cage (@johnwilldoug) June 7, 2018
You don't turn off the lights and be silent for tornadoes.
— Victoria Hogan (@vhogan52) June 7, 2018
The Boston Globe interviewed Cohen by phone on 7 June 2018, and she provided more information about the sign:
“It’s jarring,” Cohen told the Globe in a telephone interview [on 7 June 2018]. “When I was in kindergarten, we had fire drills. It was different — we didn’t have these same types of threats.”
Cohen, who said the tour was part of a district-wide event for parents and children to get a preview of the schools they will go to after summer vacation, didn’t want to name the school where she saw the poster.
Somerville Public Schools did not immediately address the lockdown song poster on their Facebook or Twitter pages. Cohen told the paper that she believed to be shocked by the poster is important, because "you can’t normalize" school shootings.