School Security and Safety in The United States

Introduction

Dating back to 1988, in the north shore suburb of Wilmette, Laurie Dann, a 30-year-old female entered an elementary school, where she fatally shot an 8-year-old student and wounded five other students. The Columbine shooting followed, with an absurd number of school shootings across the country since then. Because of the growing rate of school violence across America, we the people need to realize the vulnerability in our schools. At the end of the day, those buildings aren’t just for education. They are a primary factor in our communities where we go to vote, watch sporting events, theatre shows, and so much more. With that said, the United States needs to mandate more strict school security precautions for everyone that enters and exits a school, including all faculty, students, and visitors, for the prevention of school shootings, contraband, and other violence.

School Violence

One of the most copious reasons why the United States needs to mandate more strict security precautions in schools is because of the mountain-high concerns from parents, regarding their children's safety in school. A report by Jeffrey M. Jones, a senior editor from Gallup Inc. found that “About one in four U.S. parents (24%) say they fear for their children’s safety when they are at school. Parental worry was last at that level in August 2012, a few months before it rose in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. After the Newtown tragedy, parents' concern increased, with 33% saying they were fearful for their child’s safety, up from 25% in August 2012. Nearly a year after the attack, parents' level of worry had not decreased. Since then, fear eased slightly but had not reverted to pre-Newtown levels until now.” (Jones) Additionally, a 2014-2015 school safety survey from School Safety 911, presents that it is not only parents worrying about school safety. The study shows that 41% of surveyed students felt that violence in their school is also related to general bullying. This is such an crucial part in school violence, considering the fact that tragic events in schools are not only shootings. Despite how some may consider that the majority of tragic events are shootings, most of these violent acts that we see in schools in the past 10 years, have exclusively happened due to underlying circumstances. These events could also happen because the offender may have a mental illness, or something similar to temporary insanity, whereas the shooter may have been a previous student who had been expelled. An example of a school shooting, where the offender took action due to underlying circumstances is the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. On that day, Nikolas Cruz (the offender), shot up the school because he had been expelled. In other instances, events such as the 1988 school shooting in the north-shore suburb of Wilmette, Laurie Dann was diagnosed with a mental illness by her psychiatrist. Observing the underlying circumstances behind these tragic events, in the end, violence is not just school shootings.

The School Shield Program

Relating to underlying circumstances of school violence, the National Rifle Association offers the School Shield Program. When realizing that this is the NRA, it is necessary to put politics aside, in this instance. The School Shield Program starts with an assessment that results in discovery and observations in a school, that relate to potential violence in the future. In addition to these discoveries, this assessment also concludes with ideas to support a school safety plan. Although politics is an extreme part of the NRA, if you exclude that, you are still seeing the potential of arming teachers and security personnel in schools. As said by Director Sheila Brantley (NRA School Shield) “The NRA School Shield program has one primary mission: to protect our children. The program is committed to addressing the many concerns of school security including best practices in security infrastructure, technology, personnel, training, and policy. Within this effort, the NRA School Shield seeks to engage communities and empower leaders to help enhance our school security.” In addition to the primary mission of the School Shield program, “the NRA believes every option should be considered when it comes to protecting our children. When a threat occurs, a rapid response by the police is what everyone expects and hopes for. However, in these situations, the NRA suggests that trained school personnel can also serve a vital role. As the first to face the threat, they can lead and implement protocols designed to save lives.” Also, as many others fail to understand that school violence is not just shooting-based, the NRA provides a clear and concise explanation of how the School Shield program is not just focusing on active shooter events. Program director, Sheila Brantley says that it is important to recognize that school violence can come in many forms. As school violence continues to rise, that could be no further from the truth. A potential threat is an expression of intent to purposely harm or act out violently against a person or group of people. Any threat can be communicated verbally, in writing, or symbolically. An additional key part to realize is that these tragic events can happen at any time and any place and can vary from one situation to the next. To be prepared for such incidences, schools must envision proactively and train on how to respond to various scenarios. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to ensuring school security; security must be enforced under all circumstances.

Gun Safety

An additional important aspect of school violence and having a purpose of increasing school security across the nation includes firearm suicides in schools as well as general threats made to schools. Everytown Research and Policy, which is a gun safety organization, has developed a potential legislative plan that is offered to our nation. This plan is congested with what the company calls “Extreme Risk Laws”. “These laws create a legal process by which law enforcement, family members, and, in some states, educators can petition a court to prevent a person from having access to firearms when there is evidence that they are at serious risk of harming themselves or others.” Even though many fail to realize it, most active shooters show warning signs before committing their excruciating acts. As an opposition, others may state that you cannot read people's minds, and see what is going on in their head. While that may remain true, a study from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund clearly mentions that “Extreme Risk laws are a critical tool for intervening before a person poses violence on school grounds. There is potent evidence to prove that these laws can prevent acts of school violence before they happen. In Maryland, according to leaders of the Maryland Sheriffs’ Association, a recently passed Extreme Risk law has been processed in at least four cases involving “significant threats” against schools. In California, Extreme Risk Laws were used in efforts to prevent mass shootings, including five occurrences where schools or children were targeted. Extreme Risk laws can also be used to help address firearm suicide in schools. One study found that the firearm suicide rate in Connecticut decreased by 14 percent. The same study found that in the 10 years following the same law that passed in Indiana, the firearm suicide rate decreased by 7.5 percent. Twelve states, including Florida, as well as Washington, DC, have passed Extreme Risk laws since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. As of now, 17 states and Washington DC now have Extreme Risk laws enforced. All states with Extreme Risk Laws should train law enforcement on the availability and effective use of the laws. School officials also need to know that this is a tool available to them as part of a comprehensive intervention with a student who is at serious risk to themselves or others. From a broad spectrum, these laws are a common-sense method for acting on the warning signs commonly found in active shooter incidents, and they can be an effective tool for reducing firearm suicide and gun safety as a whole.”

Positive Trends

To mention, currently, we see the presence of school resource officers in our education buildings. Although reverting to the National Rifle Association and the School Shield program, the organization suggests that the United States provides additional school resource officers to our students nationwide. During the development of School Shield, officials of the program mention that surveyed schools spoke highly of having a presence of school resource officers, either currently, in the past, or the future. In particular, in large cities, as well as across the entire nation, many people have a misconception of law enforcement presence in schools because of the racial issues we face across our nation today. In addition to that, arming our school security personnel is a potential knockdown for relationships between students and the authorities. In many minds, this may be true, although a summary report of the NRA’s School Shield program found that some schools stated that “The benefits of SROs go beyond increasing school safety. Several communities have reported that placing SROs at schools has reduced the burden on patrol officers and road deputies who no longer need to respond to individual problems at local schools. They have also helped improve the image of police officers among youth and fostered better relationships between juveniles and police. This is all in addition to enhancing school safety by protecting students, teachers, and administrators. The past two decades have witnessed a drop in incidences of school violence. This positive trend mirrors the expansion of SRO programs around the nation: As more SRO officers have been assigned to schools, school death rates have decreased. These numbers support the fact that the presence of armed officers positively impacts the school environment.”

Conclusion

With all said, The United States needs to mandate more strict security precautions for everyone that enters and exits a school, including all faculty, students, and visitors, for the prevention of school shootings, contraband, and other violence. As research on national school violence and security has been reviewed, why are our government and our schools choosing to not have safety as a high priority for our students? Isn’t the goal of our government to do what is best for our nation, especially our future successors? Isn’t the goal of our education system to execute what is best for our students, especially when safety is involved? Today’s students are America’s future, so if we want our government and our students to maintain a high-class reputation, we need to take on everything we can to put students in the best position to feel safe and generate our schools to feel comfortable for students. Risking lives, especially our future successor's lives, is extremely heinous, and we the people, need to take the stand for this affair across our nation. If not, innocent students will become more feasible to be involved in tragic events such as shootings, contraband trouble, and overall violence in their schools. The future of our country could be severely affected by school violence, and continuously is. Therefore, demand better in our nation, before any more harm is done to our future.