The Safety of Schools
My mom asked my brother, “What did you do today in school?” His reply, “ We had a lock down drill. All of us had to squeeze into a closet in the science lab room and be completely quiet. Sal and Conner got in trouble because they were talking and messing around.” My mom calmly reminds my brother, “ You do know that lockdown drills are important and should be taken seriously. In case of an actual emergency it is beneficial for you and your friends to practice your reaction and know how to respond. “ In school’s today, safety, is a problem that is constantly being addressed and examined. Since the year 2000, there have been more than “130 shootings at elementary, middle and high schools, and 58 others at colleges and universities.” ( Bump 2018) The issue of school security has grown into a multibillion dollar business, but little research has been completed on what is the best way to protect students from gun violence.
School lockdowns drills are in place in schools around the country just as fire drills are. Faculty and staff have been trained through in services how to respond to such an emergency and each school has their own procedures in place. Students and staff need to be familiar with how to respond if an emergency should arise and to react quickly. Being quiet and remaining calm are crucial components of a successful drill. The purpose of a drill is to teach students how to “ barricade themselves in classrooms and hide from as armed and violent intruder” (Lee 2019) In a crisis, the situation should be analyzed because staying inside the building may not be the best option. A.L.I.C.E -Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate- is a program founded by Greg Crane. Crane is a former SWAT officer. Crane believes that drill should not focus solely on hiding but analyzing the situation. “In ninety-eight percent of these situations, you have a solo shooter, if I knew that I have a killer inside the building, then I would run outside.” ( Lee 2019) Not one plan works in every situation. If it is announced that something is happening in a particular hallway, then people should react fast. Is it best to leave the building or hide? According the Crane, “A drill should ideally include kids and teachers developing and discussing the best options to a violent threat and then having those ideas reviewed and evaluated by safety experts” ( Lee 2019) Crane also supports teaching faculty, staff and students techniques in order to fight an intruder if possible. This is not something that is fully supported and has been refuted by Ken Trump, the president of the National Schools Safety and Security Systems, which is private firm. He believes that there should not be any thought given toward fighting off an intruder. “ What about special ed. children? What’s age appropriate? And how can you ask middle schoolers who can’t choose between lunch entrees to make a split- second coordinated, life-and-death decisions? ( Lee 2019) Trump would like to see schools work out plans and work directly with local enforcement agencies in order to help practice them and make them as safe as possible.
In October of 2019, the U.S. Department of Education announced a new grant of $71.6 million in funding in order to better safety in schools and to improve student access to resources regarding mental health. Mental health is assumed to be a main cause of school shootings. Research shows that mental health does not cause gun violence. “Surprisingly little population-level evidence supports the notion that individuals diagnosed with mental illness are more likely than anyone to commit gun crimes” (Metzl and MacLeish 2015) Those who commit mass shooting are not well. They may feel desperate, hopeless and are more likely to overstep their boundaries and be violent toward others, but “shooters rarely have a diagnosed (or diagnosable) mental illness.” (Beckett 2014) It is known that people who have a violent history should not be in possession of a hand gun or any weapon, but a quick mental illness diagnosis of a shooter is actually more complicated than just that. Mental illness does not cause gun violence. And mental illness is not equal to a threat of violence. “It is understandable the US policymaker, journalists, and the general public look to psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience and related disciplines as sources of certainty in the face of the often-incomprehensible terror and loss that mass shooting inevitably produce” (Metzl and MacLeish 2015). There is little evidence that shows that people with a mental health diagnosis are any more likely to commit a crime with a gun, but it is a trend to fall back on insanity and shooters lack of saneness. “Meanwhile, a host of other narratives, such as displaced male anxiety about demographic change, the mass psychology of needing so many guns in the first place, or the symptom created by being surrounded by them, remain unspoken ( Metzl and Macleish 2015).
School violence and lock down drill are realities. Schools are taking steps in order to make schools safe havens again. Security measures have been put into place. School doors are locked and one main entrance is used that has a surveillance camera in place. Visitors are buzzed in and licenses are scanned for record of visit and identity. Teachers exit buildings to go out to recess with walkie talkies providing correspondence with the main office in case any incident should arise. Depending on the neighborhood of the school, metal detectors and guards are at schools for protection. With schools that contain multiple buildings, students, staff and faculty are given badges to wear during the day that make them stand out as being someone allowed on campus but the badges are also used to open the doors. And most importantly students should never open locked doors for anyone even if they know the individual. Students need to be vigilant and aware and report suspicious behavior to people of authority.
No security measure is going to be perfect. Every school violence situation is different. But it is important to try to reduce the risks. Schools are for children and they are supposed to be safe havens for them. Schools are drug free, gang free and places that should be designed for students to thrive. Gun violence and school safety is a sad reality that we face today. Parents drop their children off in fear of what could happen because as we know from past cases, tragedy in school can happen anywhere. School safety is a problem within schools and there is a need for it to be continually addressed. No school is safe from harm.
Works cited
Bump, Philip. “Analysis | Eighteen Years of Gun Violence in U.S. Schools, Mapped.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 14 Feb. 2018, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/14/eighteen-years-of-gun-violence-in-u-s-schools-mapped/.
Bump, Philip. “Analysis | Eighteen Years of Gun Violence in U.S. Schools, Mapped.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 14 Feb. 2018, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/14/eighteen-years-of-gun-violence-in-u-s-schools-mapped/.
Lee, Katherine. “How Parents and Schools Can Boost School Security Today.” Verywell Family, Verywell Family, 2 Nov. 2019, http://www.verywellfamily.com/what-parents-need-to-know-about-school-lockdown-drills-620503.
Lee, Katherine. “How Parents and Schools Can Boost School Security Today.” Verywell Family, Verywell Family, 2 Nov. 2019, http://www.verywellfamily.com/what-parents-need-to-know-about-school-lockdown-drills-620503.
Metzl, Jonathan M, and Kenneth T MacLeish. “Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms.” American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, Feb. 2015, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/.
“U.S. Department of Education Announces New Grant Awards to Address School Safety and Improve Access to Mental Health Services.” U.S. Department of Education Announces New Grant Awards to Address School Safety and Improve Access to Mental Health Services | U.S. Department of Education, 8 Oct. 2019, http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-new-grant-awards-address-school-safety-and-improve-access-mental-health-services.
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