Response to Safety in Public Schools......

After reading an article posted in a classmate’s blog, “The Second Hand from Desiree,” I felt it was important to discuss why a law hasn’t already been enforced to keep public schools safe. In order to reduce the risk of major tragedies happening within the schools, something needs to be done and I don’t feel that it takes a genius to figure out what that something is. What I don’t understand is why it seems that in order for something to get noticed that needs serious attention, a tragedy has to occur before anyone reacts to the situation. If we already know that a location is dangerous, then it should be taken care of and not have any safety issues in the first place to prevent anything terrible from occurring. For instance, a major intersection that is obviously very dangerous that does not have traffic lights might take years and many fatalities later before those lights are put in to help reduce car accidents.

This leads me to what you get when you google school shootings. There are pages of school history reports that show all the disasters and massacres in public Schools and Universities that have happened over the years. In 1927, the Bath school disaster, in 1966, the university of Texas massacre, in 1999, the Columbine High school massacre, and most recent in 2007, the Virginia Tech massacre. So, what is the hold up, there is plenty of history showing that schools are not safe and what has happened in the past does not need to be repeated. Therefore, something needs to be done to keep weapons out of schools. An article reads that after the columbine shooting, the massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. There also was increased emphasis on school security, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use, and violent video games. The word that caught my attention was debate, but was anything done after the debate to make sure that a school massacre never happened again.

I recently graduated from high school and I am currently walking the halls at ACC to go from class to class and I see nothing being done to keep the school safe. I do believe metal detectors should be placed in front of every entrance to the school and there should be security guards throughout the inside and around the outside of the school premises. Not just one guard hanging out somewhere and not just a cop car circling the parking lot. I think that whatever the student is carrying should be searched through. Whether it is a backpack or a tote bag, a guard should make sure that there are no weapons inside the book bags. I know that many would say that is against privacy rules, but it might be the only way to really make sure that nothing is getting through the metal detectors and inside the school. The hot-line number for students to call in case of any kind of emergency is a good idea and will provide the students with security if they know they can contact someone right away. Cell phones should be allowed without question, however students need to have respect and only use them for emergency related issues. If a law is placed among the school districts stating that every school follows the rules when it comes to security and metal detectors, then I think schools would consist of a safe atmosphere for the students to learn in. The stories I have read about tragic events in public schools and universities are very sad and I hope that the government makes safety throughout schools a priority so that all students are protected. Education is important, but being safe while gaining an education is more important.