We think about intruders, but what about protecting students from each other?
Problems
Security
The subject people shutter to think about
School security is a subject that makes schools and parents cringe in their seats. You all know about the world we live in today—it's not safe. Schools make great targets for criminals hungry for violence. With so many students in a building at one time, confrontations are also bound to happen between students themselves.
Yes, school security is scary to think about; but instead of looking the other way, let's try looking at it head-on because the safety of your children is at stake.
Do your children feel safe?
The feeling I gathered from teenagers through conversation and high school surveys I conducted is that teens feel safe at school, which is a good thing. However, the teenagers that questioned safety had the following thoughts in their heads:
- past school shootings on the news
- lack of discipline
- unlocked doors
- faculty control of students
The fact that the majority of students feel safe at school should not give you an excuse to ignore security. The truth is that the majority of students don't think about this topic, and they shouldn't have to.
You should be thinking
Here are some questions to help get you started in thinking about school security:
- What is the job of the school officer?
- Can one person control all the incidents of a school?
- What do hall monitors really monitor?
- How much control is in the lunch and classrooms?
