School shootings have become a serious problem in the school system, and school officials are looking for ways to prevent students from carrying out school shootings. On Thursday, Lacey Gruntorad, assistant principal of Brockway Area Middle School in northern Pennsylvania, went to the school’s security contractor because she was concerned that someone might be planning something at school. Lacey Gruntorad, school official “We just had two students that were overheard mentioning that they were planning on getting guns, bringing them to school and shooting at school. “
According to the school district, the individuals who overheard the conversation notified school officials. The school then told local law enforcement agencies about it and school officials were able to find out that it was a student who planned to shoot up the school. After school officials heard the rumor, they called Brockway’s school resource officer and asked him to work with school officials and conduct random searches of lockers and backpacks throughout the school day.
“He did make an arrest on Thursday, but we don’t feel like there was enough information for us at this time to know whether or not the individual had weapons. “If there is nothing to lead you in one direction it is hard to start looking for something when you have no clue what direction you are trying to go. ” Police Chief John Watts said. Brockway School District Superintendent Mike Festerling said school officials are weighing their options about surveillance cameras in school. “We are looking at the possibility of putting security cameras up there to help monitor, not only what’s going on with safety issues but also vandalism. ” Festerling added.
School shootings across the nation have school officials concerned about school security. In 1997, a school shooting erupted in Pearl High School in Mississippi where an expelled student shot and killed two students and injured seven others before he was taken into custody by police officers who were serving as school resource officers. A school shooting in Edinboro , Pa. , resulted in one student being wounded when another student opened fire with a shotgun during school dismissal on May 3, 1998.
The school shooting also resulted in the death of the school’s principal, John Gillette. At a school in Springfield , Oregon , three teen-agers were shot when another student opened fire outside Thurston High School . One student later died from his wounds. The gunman was later charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder. According to school officials, school shootings are not just happening at high school campuses, they’re happening at multiple school levels across the country including elementary schools.
Sandy Hook: one of the most tragic school shootings in U.S. history occurred on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; which is located 60 miles northeast of New York City. Adam Lanza fatally shot his mother and killed twenty school children aged 6 to 7 years old and six school employees. He then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide (CNN Staff, 2012).
Guns: Guns are not inherently bad; it all depends on who is using them. Guns should only be used when there’s a reason such as self-defense or hunting for food purposes (guns can be very useful in rural areas/wilderness). However, if someone becomes emotionally unstable and decides take out their anger out on school children, there should be a way to curb this epidemic. According to the New York Times, “Since the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., last Dec. 14, more than 638 people have been shot in over 200 school shootings” (Blinder & Ford, 2013). That is six hundred and thirty-eight school shootings in one year alone!
What can We Do? Since school violence is becoming increasingly popular among school shooters/attackers, it’s time for us to take action against them before they commit their crime.
One of the most important things that we can do right now is to register every gun that someone has in his/her house with his/her children so when something bad happens at school he or she can go home and find the gun. If they find the guns, school shootings can be avoided! There are school safety procedures that school boards can use to prevent school violence/shootings from happening in their schools. These school safety procedures include:
– adding more counselors for students with mental health issues
– train staff members with school shooting prevention tactics
– reevaluate school security measures
– install a buzzer system to ensure visitors; such as those coming from off campus, still need to check in before entering school premises (Blinder & Ford, 2013)
By taking these precautions we can make sure our children’s lives will be protected as much as possible. It is not as safe as it should be but it is definitely better than nothing.
You can also help spread awareness online via social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram/etc., by using the hashtag #SafeSchoolShootings or by clicking “share” on this article. You can also talk to school board members about school safety measures and what they are doing to keep schools safe from school shooters/violence. These are just some of the many things that you can do to help school shootings decrease in frequency. This is a sensitive topic so please be mindful of your words before sharing this article with others. I hope you have learned something new today.
One school shooting might seem like a tiny flicker in a world of fire, but school shootings are an undeniable beginning to the end of civilization. In recent school shootings such as Sandy Hook and Columbine have been exposed to the entire nation. Although these school shootings were traumatic to masses across the world, school shooters who perpetrate school violence often receive little to no attention from society. In other words, once a school shooter is done with their rampage they are forgotten about until being brought up in conversation or mentioned in a news broadcast.
School shooters should not be ignored because they have ties to larger school safety issues that need attention; school shootings are important for safe schools because it can happen anywhere at any time and nobody knows when or where it is going to happen. School Shootings are probably the most important school safety issue because school shootings have been known to go underreported, unnoticed, or unreported for too long before anything can be done about it.
The frequency of school shootings has risen over the years and school security needs to up their ante in order to keep students safe before school violence spills out onto school campuses. School Shootings are also one of the biggest school issues because they affect everybody whether they know it or not. If a person lives in America then that person is impacted by school shootings whether it is becoming victim of gun violence or if that person knows somebody who was affected by school violence.
