A broken door lock kept Literature and Film students and their teacher trapped inside after the bell, but quick thinking by English teacher Justin Sonnenfelt freed the class.
Like a scene from a movie, Sonnenfelt’s Lit. and Film class were in their own drama.
“We were all watching the film Where the Wild Things Are,” Sonnenfelt said, “getting ready to write a compare and contrast essay over the adaptation of the original children’s story into a film.”
When students went to leave at the end of the period, there was a plot twist. They were locked in.
“I was like, “Oh, really, you can’t get out?” I didn’t really believe that we were all trapped in the room. I went to the door to assess the situation and sure enough, we were stuck,” Sonnenfelt said.
Students called out to their teacher for help with the door, and tension grew as the door remained locked.
“Some kids were like “Hey Mr. Sonnenfelt we can’t open the door”, Everyone was looking at him […] then he tried to open the door and it wouldn’t open,” senior Yar Akoi stated.
Sonnenfelt first called for help, trying to keep his class calm. Some students were upset and wanted to get to lunch, work, or their next class.
“Students were not happy. I could tell that many of them were even a bit stressed over the ordeal. Most of the class are seniors and may or may not have had a class,”
Sonnenfelt said.
Many students were confused and just wanted to leave. There had been no previous issue with the door.
“That door has had some damage in the past, but has been repaired,” Assistant Principal Matt Geerts said.
Sonnenleft added he hadn’t experienced any issues with his door. Geerts arrived shortly after the call for help.
“I heard a radio call from security that a building engineer was needed at Room 110 to repair a stuck door. They reported that students were still in the classroom and unable to exit,” Geerts said.
Geerts rushed to the scene and tried to help unlock the door.
“When I got to Mr. Sonnenfelt’s room, he was trying to get the lock to work. After a few minutes, he was able to pop the lock out and get the students out,” Geerts said.
The plot reached its climax as Sonnenfelt was able to use his district ID badge to unlock the door by using it on the door’s latch.
“I knew the latch bolt of the door could be moved back to allow the door to open with something hard but flexible. My district ID fit the bill, so I pulled it out and began to work,” Sonnenfelt said.
Geerts and the engineer helped by pressing on the door, giving it just enough resistance to pop open the latch.
“I had to have Gerts help by pressing back on the door so there was no friction on the latch, and just like that, the door opened,” Sonnenfelt said.
Thus the film came to a happy ending as the students were able to leave and head to their next class, or whatever they had planned for that day. Greets and the engineer contacted the district locksmith.
“My class was very happy! I was as well. Who knows how long we would have waited for a locksmith,” Sonnenfelt said.
