Are Public Schools Safe?

Through the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting many emotions and thoughts are buzzing through my head. Are public schools really that safe and what are administrators and the government doing to ensure children are safe and able to learn in a secure comfortable environment? This event brought back a lot of emotion back to the Columbine shooting. I was a junior in high school when the tragic school shooting took place on April, 20 1999 in Columbine Colorado. There was a drastic change in my high school following this event. I live in a suburb about an hour northeast of Detroit in an area very socio-economically comparable to Columbine Colorado even though I was thousands of miles away I knew my school environment would never be the same. Many changes came about all of which made me question how safe I really was at this place a spent so much time everyday!!

The administrators become much more involved and took a very active role to make sure we were safe and things that seemed stupid or meaningless at the time started to make more sense to me after Virginia Tech. We were no longer allowed to have back packs or large purses. They also ran much more frequent emergency alarm and bomb threat drills. Until this point bomb threats were something that happened at least once a year in my school and as a student we loved being able to get out of class and socialize never did I feel nervous or threatened during a bomb scare until after Columbine. I also started to notice teachers and staff standing in the hall before class and during breaks to usher students that used this as a social time to class. These are some of the major changes that took place. I am sure with the recent scares since 1999 including 9/11 and now Virginia Tech the public school atmosphere has dramatically changed!!!

I am not a parent yet, however, these are things I will seriously consider when deciding where to send my children to school. These frightening events occur in elementary and middle schools not just at the high school level. I am sure our parents would tell us how radically different times are now in the public school system. Technology has also played a large role in the change of the environment students are now linked to the outside world through cell phones and the internet all day while in the classroom!! Times have changed and in order for students to be able to learn and not feel scared or threatened more security measures are needed in public schools. Education is the most important thing that will shape a young person’s mind and for this to be interrupted or disturbed because of outside influences is unacceptable!!! What are we as the American public going to do to ensure the safety of the public school system?? This should be a thought in everyone’s mind when casting their vote for president on November 4, 2008.