CHANGE NEEDED TO LIMIT THREAT OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
School officials nationwide notified parents about extra precautions ahead of a reported “National Shoot Up Your School Day” on Dec. 17, and many students reportedly stayed home even though law enforcement agencies said the threats weren’t credible and TikTok, where the threat supposedly began, found no evidence of the trend. The situation demonstrates an unnamed fear we all live with in the United States, that our children could be killed when attending school.
School shootings are normalized and our society demands schools solve a problem that is far beyond what any district can hope to overcome. Still, public education tries. All staff are trained with the “Run, Hide, Fight” plan.
Teachers all have exit strategies to fulfill the “Run” portion of the safety plan. Premapped paths are planned to get a class, between 20 and 45 students, off campus and away from danger as quickly as possible while maintaining reasonable cover. Schools have also sought to secure student safety as they “Hide” from the threat of an armed assailant who means to murder minors. Rooms are being equipped with new windows and curtains to better help students hide. Classes have bucket toilets and privacy curtains to allow students to relieve themselves while surrounded by peers during long shelter in place events. And emergency bags now often contain crowbars to help open locks or be used for the “Fight” aspect of the plan — teachers fighting for the right to live and the lives of their students when discovered by an armed hostile.
Campuses house armed resource officers and have a steady stream of police cars roaming the perimeter while access to the grounds is limited to staffed entrances that require ID checks. Even the alarm bells and sirens of our youth have been updated because of how often they are used as a means to set lethal traps. Now, the public address system announces what threat is present and if it is a “false alarm,” “only a drill” or “not a drill.”
It is impossible to say that the education system is not actively trying to create a safe learning environment. It is also impossible to ignore the fact that the education system is failing in this regard. Despite the pandemic, school shootings are more common and more lethal than in recent years.
Children are not safe when parents drop them off and only a true democratic decision with actions by the state and federal governments can change that by strengthening and enforcing gun laws as well as further prohibiting the type of weaponry civilians can purchase. The laws enforced by Australia and England on semi-automatic and pump-action weapons and handguns have reduced gun violence in those countries and stand as models.
Until this happens, it will be schools trying and failing while police attempt to handle every threat and end up acting in a reactionary manner whenever a disaster occurs. There are simply too many threats and not enough time or resources to prevent them all. Then broken communities are left with “thoughts and prayers” for a month, and the problem is forgotten, until the next time.
The TikTok scare shows all this and leaves those who care to acknowledge it shook and frustrated. The situation caused fear, panic and anxiety. It also could have easily brought more violence against children. Threats of this nature must be condemned and social media needs to be more accountable.
This situation also lays the truth bare. The message sent could not be stopped, whether it was real or fake, from spreading.
The idea of more school violence furthers our county’s divide because it is greeted with fear or cynicism but no actual action outside of police and schools. In the most powerful country in the world, the current president and his three predecessors have not been willing to make changes to ensure the safety of children.
Perhaps this nationwide scare will push the country to acknowledge how real and large the problem of gun violence against the innocent is within the U.S., but no one really believes it will. Why would it when the actual killing of children is so commonplace on the news and the monsters who perpetrate the violence are more famous than their victims? How can we stop such violence when our country glorifies violence through the use of arms?
I am a public school teacher and when my wife kisses me goodbye in the morning, she tells me, “Please, be safe.” How did you say farewell to your children before sending them to school? It is not OK that this type of concern is known to children all over the country when they go to school.
Smith