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Keeping Buildings Safe
David Torrence, GHS Assistant Principal
The most recent school attack has intensified the sense of unease in
our country. There are, sad to say, no easy answers for the
questions this latest attack has generated. Well-intended people
argue passionately - and at times angrily - about why attacks at
schools continue to happen and how to prevent future attacks.
Government officials, parents and students, and special interest groups
argue about the best ways to prevent attacks on schools. Social
and professional media people say that attacks on schools are
“inevitable” and demand that “something” be done - and be done
NOW. What that “something” is or could be, however, seems to
elude everyone. The absence of a clear and easily implemented
policy creates a sense of despair shared by students, parents,
teachers, and even law enforcement personnel.
While there is no “quick fix” that will protect every student in every
school, there are steps that parents, students, and teachers can take
to make their student’s building safer. Some of them are obvious
– we create emergency plans, and we talk about and practice these
plans. We create protocols in conjunction with local authorities;
we review and update those plans as frequently as we can. We make
as sure as we can that students and teachers understand what to do
should there be an emergency.
One thing that students, teachers, and parents can remember to support
the rules and procedures that schools already have in place.
Every rule we have in our student handbook is there primarily to make
the building as safe as possible. For instance, we prohibit
allowing students to bring book bags into classrooms; this prevents a
student from bringing harmful items into that classroom. Some
rules seem to promote student safety less obviously; for instance, our
student dress code helps draw attention to individuals who, because
they are not dressed in accordance with our policy, might possibly be
intruders. Similarly, our procedure for students leaving the
building during the school day is part of our bigger plan to make sure
that a student on our campus has neither been taken from our campus,
run away, or has left to cause harm somewhere else. These rules,
when followed, allow the building staff to do the best we can to make
sure students are safe when they are in our building. While the
rules seem, at times, cumbersome or inconvenient, in the end they help
us keep the people in our buildings as safe as possible.
Another procedure that needs to be followed concerns reporting concerns
to the proper authorities. Students who hear about potential
threats should share those concerns first with teachers or building
administrators. Doing this allows people responsible for building
safety to act to confirm the validity of any concerns, and take the
appropriate steps to prevent inappropriate activity. Too often,
however, students do NOT involve building administrators, teachers, or
local law enforcement in determining the validity of their
concerns. In such cases, by the time the appropriate individuals
become aware of these concerns, there is already a sense of fear or
concern among students and parents that cannot be calmed – even when
the concern turns out, as almost all do, to be without any credible
foundation.
Failing to report concerns to the proper authorities is usually a sign
that an individual’s concern is without foundation. In my
experience, students do not really believe there is a threat when they
tell me things like “… somebody – I don’t know his (or her) name – told
me …” or “… every one is saying …” something is going to occur.
When a student claims to know about a threat but cannot tell you who
told them of the threat, or why they did not think it necessary to
share the information with an adult, it is highly likely that the
concern is baseless. Such situations do nothing but create an
unnecessary panic – one that frequently disrupts the educational
process for no reason. If we want safe schools, we need to stop
creating panic. We need to follow the procedures designed to
mitigate or eliminate panic, while taking steps to ensure that there is
no threat to our students.
Lastly, I would offer this suggestion. From what I have learned,
many of the people who attempt to do harm to schools are people whose
experiences in and with schools was not good. The pressures that
today’s school student faces is far greater than it was for students in
previous generations. Between social media, economic pressures,
family concerns, and the shift from childhood to adulthood, the last
thing our young people need is to deal with the idea that the whole
world is watching them – and considering what they do worthy of
ridicule or scorn.
This is not exactly a new phenomenon; kids have mocked or made fun of
or otherwise bullied other kids since there have been kids gathered
together. With social media, however, the cruelties do not remain
localized – they become international. The names, the mockery,
the challenges – they don’t end when you leave a class, or go home;
they not only leave school with you, they go to other communities,
where any number of people can find out what names a student gets
called. Embarrassing moments do not fade away; they find life
eternal on YouTube or Twitter.
We – and by “We,” I mean all of us – need to be mindful of the impact
of hurtful and cruel actions, and be quick to demand that people whose
actions are meant to cause pain and harm to others take responsibility
and accountability for their actions. We need to learn how to
talk face to face, not “tweet to tweet” or “post to post.” We
need to demonstrate the proper ways to disagree, so that we can solve
differences before they blow up into battles.
I know that there is not much reasonable and personal discourse going
on these days. The popular way to disagree with someone, it
seems, is to use social media to inform anyone with a phone and
Internet access how worthless, stupid, and generally without value is
anyone who disagrees with you. I cannot help but think that if we
just talk with and to one another, we can have a positive impact on how
students experience school.
We cannot prevent our students from experiencing sadness; we cannot
guarantee that our students will not be physically or emotionally hurt
during their school years. We can utilize the policies designed
to protect students and teachers to offer the best protection we
can. We can report our concerns to the proper individuals rather
that use them to create a panic. We can try to be kinder and less
angry toward others and in doing so create a space where people feel
respected and cared about. These things do not cost us much in
the way of dollars, but the benefits they offer parents, teachers, and
communities might well be priceless.
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