Back to School

The football team is practicing, teachers are touching up their rooms, and kids buy the last bit of gear. It’s business as usual as they prepare to start the school year, that is until they see the new changes in security — new cameras, extra guards, dress codes. “I‘ve never seen anything change so fast,” says 17-year-old student, Timothy Langlais.

While some believe in pulling out all stops for school safety, others think that too much emphasis on security can make students feel like convicts. And, there are some experts and school officials that say security measures deal with the symptoms, not the disease. Cameras in schools are fine, but parents should demand more than just hardware.

The trouble starts well before a kid ever comes to class with a gun. These troubled kids can be intercepted if schools and teachers have the right training. “If we have a child that’s going in the wrong direction, what can we do to diffuse that individual? ...I don’t see near enough of that going on, says safety consultant, Bruce Blythe.

Stuart Benett, an assistant superintendent agrees. He says that educators need to reach out more and become positive forces in students’ lives.

Tapping into Teens

Crisis Management International, Inc. is an Atlanta-based company that deals with crisis management for schools. They offer a “best practices” approach that include the following guidelines:

• Conduct a risk analysis of the vulnerabilities specific to the school or school district.
• Develop detailed crisis response protocol to all identified risks or critical incidents.
• Formalize and train an internal, Crisis Management Team that will “drive” the school’s crisis response.
• Publicize and orient school personnel, students and parents to the pertinent issues regarding the crisis response plan. (Source: Crisis Management International, Inc.)

What Parents Should Know

Recent tragedies in schools across the country have sparked an increased interest in school safety. With students now returning to school again, many districts have ordered more than new textbooks for the coming school year. Cameras, metal detectors and other safety devices are now in place.

Keeping schools safe is a tall order and a very serious one. Administrators, teachers and other school staff have millions of kids in their care everyday for most of their lives, until around age 18. To watch over them individually would be literally impossible, so other measures must be taken.

Some schools have opted for the high tech hardware, and extra security guards in their efforts to keep schools safe. Others are trying simpler approaches that include such things as carrying see through book bags and implementing dress codes.

Ultimately, the responsibility for schools being safe will fall to parents, teachers, students — everyone, most take a proactive part in curbing violence and aggressiveness. Whenever there is a threat, or potential threat to safety, the first step to a resolution is simply to take action.