Welcome to Cedar Park, possibly the most unsuspecting city you’ll find. For two consecutive years, The Texas Department of Public Safety named this home the Second Safest City of its size in Texas.

Or, not.

Lately it seems as though the crazies have been out to give the city of Cedar Park a bad name. Local schools have been using lockdowns to combat the crime.

Two weeks ago, a suspicious situation at the Cedar Park Middle School was reported. An unidentified man apparently threw an unknown object into the bushes and retreated into the wooded area behind the school. Both the middle school and Faubion Elementary went on lockdown. The police responded, fully loaded, armed, and prepared for the worst. Police reports came back with no findings.

Last Monday, Cedar Park Middle, Cedar Park High, Naumann Elementary, Faubion Elementary and Cypress Creek Montessori schools were put on lockdown in response to a hostage situation in a home around Harvest Moon Drive and Eagle Way.

News of the first situation was delivered to students slightly on the less informative side: someone reported seeing someone suspicious dropping something in a bush somewhere. That’s the news we got. Last week’s situation wasn’t presented much more clearly. Little clear information was conveyed: a man, a gun, Milburn.

News like that is left open to interpretation. Rumors spread like wildfire, burning up Twitter. Tweets ranged from the light to the serious.

 “Teachers, check your email,” the voice over the intercom calmly interrupted students from their absorbance in their phones. “This is a Code Yellow.”

What is a Code Yellow? Otherwise known as a soft lockdown, the school takes precautionary safety steps in response to a potentially dangerous situation off campus, but nearby the students.  This calls for a perimeter lockdown for protection against an outsider.

The two Code Yellows in the past few weeks have ironically fulfilled the excitement for the rest of the semester, adding blurbs of interest to the monotonous days of high-schoolers.