Should there be more precautions in schools to protect students and staff?

Written By: Molly Spence

As of April 19, 2023, there have been 14 school shootings that ended in tragic losses or severe injuries, here in the United States since January 1st, 2023. In 2020, there were a whopping 96 school shootings, nationwide. But in 2021, that number skyrocketed to 202 school shootings. There have been 2,067 school shootings since 1970. Pennsylvania is in the top 10 states with the highest number of school shootings, with 54. According to a  survey result, one-third of students reported that they do not feel safe at school. And all of those students surveyed reported they need more social-emotional support and mental health support. (safeandsoundschools.org) I encourage you to read this but do know viewer discretion is advised, but it is very logical and statistical information, it is solely meant to demand some sort of change. This is the first installment of my new series. So I ask all of you the question, what’s more important, protecting the children’s lives when something actually happens or preventing these disasters from even happening in the first place?

There are many answers, but just about twice as many questions. Preventing school shootings comes down to many different possibilities. Perhaps, having bag searches within schools will lower the possibility of weapons or drugs, or vapes from even being within the school district. Or even metal detectors at the doors will help prevent weapons from entering the building. But, prevention can only go so far.

As far as protection goes, security guards are in place at nearly every school in the nation, but security guards can only do so much. Security guards cannot prevent school shootings from the root, they can only protect, as they were trained to do. They can only prevent school shootings when the perpetrator has already initiated the attack or entered school property with a weapon. All teachers undergo special training in case of a shooting, but 80% of the time, they cannot prevent a school shooting. We, the students, have no idea what is going to happen until we are in the moment. That moment can change all of our lives, whether you’re prepared for it or not. Security can only be used when something is actively going on. 

In some of the most publicized school shootings, such as Columbine (April 20, 1999), Sandy Hook Elementary (December 14, 2012), Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (February 14, 2018), and Uvalde (May 24, 2022), several main motives were recognized. The most common motive of the attackers in all four schools included some sort of mental health problems. Many of them were forms of retaliation for bullying, strained relationships with others, and academic struggles in school. A lot of the conversations about school shootings and teen violence surround security and protection from the actual attack, but perhaps it would be beneficial to change the culture and community of our youth in order to create a more understanding and empathetic, and welcoming environment. Rather than solely focusing on preventing an attack, we as a school and as a community should shift and expand our focus on the most likely root cause of the attack – mental health issues. As Mrs.Horwat says, “We need to put more money into mental health services, industries, and providers. Prevention is the key.”

Perhaps, school clubs can prevent things like this by promoting inclusivity and community building. Starting a mentorship program between high school students and community leaders and business leaders can help build life skills and teach valuable lessons like work ethic but also make people feel welcome and not alone. Increased involvement of the high school students in community events and community service would help shift the focus from self to others and raise awareness for social responsibility. This can also help those who are less involved begin to branch out, meet some new people, and make friends. Just as Matthew McConaughey said shortly after the Uvalde shooting, “This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured” Matthew McConaughey (12:41 AM May 25, 2022, twitter.com/@ McConaughey). In the end, it’s not one of those things anyone can prevent 100% but with certain changes to the educational systems, we can prevent it to the best of our absolute possibility.

As mentioned before, retaliation for bullying is one of the reasons behind these massacres, and bullying needs to end. We can all control bullying, if we can demolish bullying from the teen culture, there won’t be near as many issues in the educational systems. Bullying and lack of mental healthcare services for students and adults serve as the roots of these issues. We as a school district and as a community need to be pushed together and fight bullying – in unity. By putting an end to this uprising issue, the school environment will improve, people will feel welcome and people will look at us and notice that we as a school have come together to stop this huge problem. As a school, we can put a stop to this incredibly damaging and cyclical process of trauma, and by doing so, it will spread throughout our community. We can be role models, and we can change society’s critically damaged version of “safety.” No one, especially children, should have to be trained for a school shooter. No one should have to go through what those families in all of those 2,067 school shootings went through. There should be no such thing as a school shooting, yet, there is.  Giving these perpetrators the publicity and “fame” for committing these horrifying, disgusting, and heartbreaking crimes, is only going to spread seeds of hatred. As a society, that should not be our goal, our goal should be to stop attacks on other human beings – attacks on children –  from even being a thought. The only way to do that is to end the root of all of these problems; bullying and egregious lack of mental health care in America – specifically rural America.

If we, as a student body and community, can come together in unity and put an end to this seemingly accepted “way of life”, we can do anything. We have to change the way of the modern teen culture to encourage any sort of change, and by doing so, we as a community will grow together. Marion Center Area School District is a big part of the larger Marion Center community, but if all of the students in our school district worked with the community, Marion Center would be widely known for the positive changes and effects we can have on a large scale. Our end goal should be to put an end to this normalcy that teen culture approves of, our end goal is to stop bullying, stop negativity in its tracks and overpower it with kindness and love, and hope because that is what this world needs. There are many things our world does not need – violence, hate, discrimination – but one thing it certainly does need – kindness.  Our society, on a large scale, is crumbling underneath our feet. Rachel Scott once wrote, “I’m dying / quickly my soul leaves / slowly my body withers. It isn’t suicide, I consider it homicide. The world you have created has led to my death.” As youth leaders, we have a responsibility to stop this hatred, we have a responsibility to do better. 

As a school community, we can start by making a change here in our home, Marion Center. There should not be a day when a school shooting impacts student life, there should not be a day where bullying has pushed kids to commit violent crimes because they have nowhere to turn, and there should not be a day where bullying has pushed kids to suicide because they feel utterly alone. There should never be a day where bullying tears families, friends, communities, and even schools apart. There are two real problems in all of this; lack of access to and the stigma surrounding mental health and bullying. Bullying is an epidemic and left unchecked this epidemic will continue to spread like wildfire. As students and community leaders, we need to be like the ocean, spreading kindness, compassion, and acceptance in waves- one after another after another; spreading and halting that ever-growing wildfire. Because after all, the ocean is deeper and larger than a wildfire. 

Together we can stop bullying, we can stop hatred, and we can stop the negative stigma surrounding mental health. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ”Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Let us be that change!