Are Schools Really as Safe as They Say?

There has been more than 30 school shootings since Columbine in 1999, but only about 15 throughout the rest of the world since the Columbine shooting. With school shootings becoming more common in the US, what are schools doing to be safer for students and staff? Some schools have just begun to practice lockdown drills in case of emergency and locking school doors during the day.  Before December, many schools left their doors unlocked during the day, free for people to come and go. Some schools in Ohio are required to give a floor plan to police, and 58 schools have failed to do so. A bill is trying to be passed in Congress called the School Safety Enhancement Act of 2013. The bill is trying to ensure that schools can get the money they need for school safety.

In the wake of the Newtown school shooting, many schools all over the country are reconsidering their safety plan. But why did it take the lives of children for schools to realize they weren’t safe? Even this past week in Connecticut a five year old was able to get out of his kindergarten class and walk all the way home. In the same school, a young girl was missing for about 45 minutes before found in her sisters classroom. Schools claim to be taking more safety measures, but if a school cannot even keep track of all it’s student, what would happen if everyone were to be evacuated? Here in Cheshire, we have been practicing lockdown drills in schools for years, long before Newtown. Even though many schools don’t have many safety measures, it is better late than never to keep students and staff safe in school.

~Carolynn Pechmann

2 thoughts on “Are Schools Really as Safe as They Say?

  1. I think it’s very unsafe and very untrustworthy of the schools if they can’t find a girl INSIDE the school. As you said, how can we trust schools to properly execute an evacuation with one thousand kids if they can’t even find ONE person lost inside the school?

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