Imagine receiving a phone call informing you that there has been a shooting at your child's school and there is no not arrived. Little did you know that when you walked them to the bus stop that morning, it would be the last time you saw their face. In the last decade alone, more than 200 school shootings have occurred in the United States alone. This is a starting statistic that reflects a major problem in this country. In this essay, I will discuss why there must be a policy that every school in America should have security systems as well as plans in place in order to prevent violence and, in some cases, death. On April 20, 1999, one of the most notorious school shootings took place. If you were to ask individuals where they were when they first heard about the Columbine shooting, I'm almost certain they would remember it vividly. It was such a surprising event that shook America. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Two students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, engaged in a shooting and bombing at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The toll was 15 students dead and 24 injured as well as the suicide of the two students. The shooting included approximately 900 shells as well as bombs found placed around the school. This terrible event at school was a wake-up call for many. No one expects that when they go to school they won't come home and this incident put exactly that thought in the minds of many Americans. In a national survey conducted by the CDC, about 6% of students had missed school at least 1 day in the 30 days before the survey because they did not feel safe at or on the way to school. of school. With recent incidents of violence in American schools, student well-being and safety have become a topic of interest. School safety is about more than just student violence. School safety involves anything that negatively impacts the well-being of students and the school as a whole. It is imperative to create a safe atmosphere in which students feel they can do their best. While I think a policy to keep schools safe is essential, I think there needs to be a balance so that schools don't become a place of tension. If safety methods and procedures become the priority, it will take away from the interest of education and could create tension for students. That being said, there are ways to incorporate less stringent plans and rules to keep students safe. The first of the security methods that would be implemented by this policy are security cameras, this would help hold students accountable for fighting, rule breaking, etc. The second would be carrying an identity card to enter the school. This would prevent outsiders from entering schools, which is currently very easy to do. Finally, security systems such as metal detectors or security guards would protect students, especially in areas prone to violence and gun use. This would also keep students safe, as it would make it almost impossible to bring in weapons. I believe that all these methods of ensuring a safe environment must go hand in hand with a comfortable atmosphere. Schools are generally safe spaces. After the last decade of shootingsand violence in schools, those surveyed were more likely to report fearing being hurt or attacked at school (6.3%) than those surveyed before the incident (4.8%). However, most schools are safe places, and in reality, most children are safer in school than outside. As Watson and Watson said in the preface to their book The School As a Safe Haven: “Most schools are safe – we know that – and we do not wish, in writing this book, to frighten anyone and give them false impressions. » Overall, existing crime continues to decline to even lower numbers. Between 1995 and 2001, the percentage of students who reported being victims of crime at school decreased from from 10% to 6%. This included a decrease in thefts (from 7% to 4%) and a decrease in violent victimizations (from 3% to 2%) during the same period. The 2000 annual report on school safety published by the Department of Education and Justice reveals that “violent school deaths are extremely rare. Thirty-four violent deaths were reported in 1998-99, compared to a high of 49 deaths reported in 1995-96. These numbers are significant because they highlight that schools are a safe place for almost all children and that safety, while a concern, should not be the top priority for school administrators. In recent years, especially since the Columbine incident, many schools have increased their security to resemble that of a prison. These high metrics, while their intentions may be good, can make learning a secondary priority and have other negative effects on students that administrators often overlook. Fear of lawsuits and loss of funds may fuel these extreme measures, but that does not mean they are always the best solution. In the mid-1990s, a school system in Dallas, Texas, opened a new $41 million high school. The school had 37 surveillance cameras, six metal detectors, intrusion gates, walkways over the cafeteria and perimeter lighting around the entire 70-acre campus. Even though each school system is unique and what suits one may not necessarily suit another, this example is ridiculous. Tom Latham, a recently retired law enforcement officer from Garland, Texas, said, "A 10-foot fence is absolutely ridiculous...Students need to know they're in a safe place, and this doesn't make them safe." said not. » The goal of school security should not be to turn a school into a fortress. As Dr. Gordon Crews and Jeffrey Tipton point out in their article A Comparison of Public School and Prison Security Measures: Too Much of a Good Thing?, there are many similarities between over-security schools and prison. These similarities include metal detectors, identification badges, a uniform or dress standard, use of two-way radios, correctional officer resources, locked perimeter doors, and controlled movement. An overly controlled environment could harm individual creativity and intellectual development, as students would be forced to conform to new rules and regulations regarding school safety practices. According to Dr. Crews, these new measures “come at the cost of sacrificing the overall experience of being a student and success in the classroom. He also says another effect of increased security could be the distrust students develop in school administration. If the studentssee that they are surrounded by high security measures, they might think that they should be worried or that the administrators are not telling them anything. Distrust will inhibit rather than promote open communication between the administration and the student body. Students may become more concerned about their safety than their academic performance, which of course is the main reason they are actually in school. There are many ways schools can stay safe without making students feel like they are serving a life sentence. These more subtle tactics include integrating security into environmental design, limiting public use of the school, creating crisis plans, using resource officers and communicators, cameras and maps photo ID. The design of a school can greatly influence the overall safety of the environment. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) helps schools choose building layouts and features that promote desired behavior. In particular, it limits the number of entrances to buildings, establishes boundaries between the school and connected properties and ensures that administrative offices have a clear view of the main entrance, parking lots and play areas. This is something that should be done in every school's future planning to help prevent violence and crime in schools. Schools are often the hub of communities and often host extracurricular activities that may not be school related. Without completely restricting access to schools outside of opening hours, certain measures can be taken to ensure that certain areas remain inaccessible, thereby reducing the risk of vandalism, theft or anything else affecting the safety of the environment school. One thing that can be done is to restrict out-of-hours access to a small area of ​​the school. For example, if a basketball league uses the school gymnasium on weekends, school officials must ensure that hallways that are not in use are closed. New schools should be based on designs in which potential public spaces have a separate entrance so the rest of the building can be closed off. Another subtle but safe safety measure is to create and use crisis plans. If problems arise in schools, administrators need to know how to respond. Instead of making important decisions in the middle of a scene of chaos, managers should have comprehensive crisis plans in anticipation of problems. These crisis plans should define what would happen if something goes wrong. Schools should hold regular crisis training and drills. They must address potential problems such as fires, school shootings or terrorist activity. Resource officers or security guards are another way to keep schools safe. “A 2001 survey of resource officers by the National Association of School Resource Officers found that 92 percent of officers reported preventing one to 25 acts of violence per school year, and 94 percent said the students informed them in advance of the violence. incidents that were supposed to take place. It is not necessary that these resource officers be sworn and uniformed municipal police officers. To make security smoother, these security guards could wear casual clothing. Of course, there would have to be more than one to be able to monitor everything., 2012.