SHAMOKIN - Standing in line behind Shamokin Area Elementary Annex, parents and guardians one-by-one signed out elementary students at day's end Friday.
Hugs were exchanged, backpacks were handed off, and through the eyes of the children, a recounting of the day's events had begun while adults and students walked away together from the school.
It was a standard end to a standard school day, and to the relief of a great many people in a great many towns where similar scenes played out around 3 p.m. Friday, it was nothing like the tragedy that had unfolded in Newtown, Conn.
"I've been crying all day," Mary Ann Christiana, of Coal Township, said of the shooting rampage at an elementary school that claimed the lives of 26 victims, including 20 children about her daughter's age. Also killed was the shooter, Adam Lanza, after having reportedly turned a gun on himself.
She was waiting inside her car for her 7-year-old Emma to dismiss from the annex. "I don't even know how to explain this as a parent," she said.
Christiana said she had called the elementary school to check in after learning of the shooting. Another mother who was standing outside the annex, Donna McDonald, of Shamokin, said she had done the same.
They weren't alone. A secretary at the main elementary school in Coal Township said several calls were placed by parents to the principal's office. All callers were assured students were safe. One caller thanked a secretary for the vigilance of school personnel.
Chris Venna, principal of the district's middle/high school, said the mass murder in Connecticut was at the forefront of most everyone's mind at Shamokin Area.
Like many parents standing outside the annex - and surely many million others across the country, parents or not - had said, Venna said his heart was with the victims and their families.
With two daughters in kindergarten and holding a job that puts him inside a public school each day, Venna said it hit close to home.
"I'm going home right now to hug my kids. I'll make sure they get an extra big hug from me when I come home," he said while he drove home from work.
McDonald spoke with a touch of defiance when imagining such a situation playing out locally at the school of her 6-year-old son, Tristain, saying she'd want to harm any aggressor against school children.
Michael Swartzlander, of Shamokin, said he'd rush to the scene if his stepdaughter, Sarah, were in danger.
"I'm only a couple blocks away, but I'd come running," he said.
Jodi Britton, of Shamokin, who has two children at the annex and five altogether in the school district, wondered if such a reaction, while admitting it likely a normal one, would be helpful.
"I think everyone would," she said of rushing to the scene. "The only thing is, it adds to the chaos."
The sign-out process at day's end is normal for the district and happens daily at the elementary buildings. There are also cameras and buzzer systems in place to help control access to the main entrances of all three district buildings throughout the day.
Venna said there were no heightened security measures put in place at Shamokin Area on Friday because of the events in Newtown; however, he said everyone's awareness was heightened as a result.
The school district does not have a full-time police officer at the school after funding for a school resource officer dried up. But Coal Township Police continue to send an officer to the west end schools daily to make their presence known and to remain familiar with the layout of the buildings, Venna said.
District staff and administrators review procedures for school-shooter situations, for which input has been provided by police officers. And while a plan may seem futile in the face of such tragedies, it's a plan nonetheless, no matter how impossible the situation may be, he said.
"You do what you can to make sure you have everything in place," Venna said.