On September 4th of last year, a highschool student in Georgia entered his school with an AR-15 in his backpack and was responsible for 4 deaths and 9 injuries. This incident caught everyone’s attention and left many shocked, devastated, and worried. Most of all, it left many students and parents feeling uneasy about their school environment.
West Leyden believes it is of utmost importance that every student feels safe and has trust in the staff to correctly handle such dangerous situations. Leyden’s staff has gone to an extent to assure students safety. It is a devastating reality that we have to worry about our safety in school, so it is necessary that students know that we have a very controlled and effective policy here at Leyden.
The school works with police stations in the area, they even held meetings with the same security guards that work for places like Wrigley Field to discuss policy. These meetings actually lead to many effective policies that contribute to the students’ safety. These security updates are due to a huge rise over the years in school shootings.
According to CNN: “There have been at least 76 school shootings in the United States so far this year, as of November 11. Twenty-four were on college campuses, and 52 were on K-12 school grounds. The incidents left 36 people dead and at least 103 other victims injured.”CNN US. CNN, 12 Nov. 2024
Some students hear these numbers and grow to feel distressed. Based on the answers of a survey done by 50 West Leyden students, when asked how effective they believe lockdown drills really are when it comes to keeping students safe, the majority answered “a bit effective”. When asked how much trust they have in Leyden’s staff to keep them safe in dangerous situations, the majority answered 3 out of 5.
West Leyden’s Dean, Mr. Carrero, also part of the Safety and Security Committee, had some comments on these results: “In the end, what we are doing is best,” he claims. “Every year things get better and better, in terms of school safety. We are always working to improve the security at Leyden.”
A big reason why students don’t believe Leyden is safe is because they don’t know the exact policies that we have here. We have shatterproof glass, weapons kept hidden and locked in case of emergency, and most importantly, every classroom has locks. Some students may not know that this is a relatively recent policy, highly recommended by police stations near us.
Carrero was very adamant about the importance of this policy and the impact it has: “A student has never been killed behind a locked door, that is a fact”. He mentioned a huge shooting in Texas, the Uvalde school shooting in May 2022, and how their biggest issue was that they used door magnets. These magnets used to be very common, even at Leyden; they are meant to be placed between the door and the frame to prevent it from actually closing or locking. If it weren’t for these magnets, many students from that shooting would still be alive today. It is extremely important that teachers follow this rule: “Is it inconvenient? Sure, but is it effective? 100%.”
Another policy mentioned in the survey and frequently discussed by students and teachers is implementing metal detectors at Leyden. Proviso West, a school relatively close to Leyden, has recently implemented a metal detector policy at the school. Unfortunately, this security update has not prevented violence at the school. November 14th, 2023, there was a fight between two students at Proviso West; one of the students was carrying a knife and used it to cut the other student in the arm. The school went into lockdown. According to ABC 7 News, a parent of a student at the school commented, “They have metal detectors in there, but they’re not working. I mean, if they were, it would’ve caught this”. This just shows that metal detectors may not be a very effective policy and will most likely won’t be applied to Leyden.
Carrero commented on metal detectors, stating: “We’ve talked about it, but not because we need it coming into the building. We discussed mostly hand held metal detectors, the wands, particularly for if we ever did have someone who is refusing to go with a reasonable search of property. Though technically, you can’t refuse, because it is part of the school Code of Conduct, which you agree to when you register as a student. So the metal detectors won’t really be beneficial to those kind of situations”
Metal detectors wouldn’t just be ineffective, they could have a negative impact on the school environment at Leyden. Mr. Powers, the vice principal of student services, had some comments on metal detectors: “It creates an environment that psychologically becomes unsafe for students”. He elaborates, “The positives don’t outweigh the negatives you know? It’s not foolproof and it’s not worth it.”
Powers also was made aware of some results from the survey, specifically the statistic of students that feel lockdowns are ineffective, which he commented on saying, “I think that we handle it as appropriately as we possibly can. It’s obviously hard to replicate or simulate that, but I think we’re headed down the right path, just to make sure that you guys are all protected at the end of the day. I think the hardest thing is probably just trying to get students to take it seriously for sure”. He continued, “We don’t want anyone to be scared at school, that’s my biggest fear, because if you feel unsafe, you don’t have the ability to learn right?”
The idea that students don’t take shootings “seriously” is a tricky one. Lockdown drills have become a very familiar thing, which may have caused some to not really care about the drills, but when the peers of these students observe this nonchalant kind of attitude, they may confuse it with the school itself not exercising effective practices. Mr. Powers added to his prior comment: “I don’t know if it’s not taking it seriously or almost becoming numb to it, because this is such a part of what you guys do every year. We go through the motions, just like your fire drills, earthquake drills, severe weather drills; it’s a part of your routine in school now, which is really sad, to be honest.”
With shootings being such an immense concern for students everywhere in America, including many students at Leyden, it is important that students understand that Leyden is built on safety and our dean is very informed on how these shootings happen and how to prevent them. There are staff constantly working to improve our policies and are completely open to all comments you may have as a student, so always feel free to reach out to Leyden’s staff if you have questions or concerns.
CNN US. CNN, 12 Nov. 2024, www.cnn.com/us/school-shootings-fast-facts-dg/
index.html. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.
“There have been at least 76 school shootings in the United States so
far this year, as of November 11. Twenty-four were on college
campuses, and 52 were on K-12 school grounds. The incidents left 36
people dead and at least 103 other victims injured, according to
CNN’s analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive,
Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety.”
Langmaid, Virginia, et al. “Texas Shooting: Official Shares Latest
Minute-by-minute Timeline | CNN.” CNN, Cable News Network Warner Bros, 22
June 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/05/27/us/
uvalde-shooting-police-response-timeline/index.html.
Riess, Rebekah, et al. “Georgia School Shooter hid an AR-15-style Rifle in His
Backpack and Left Class with His Bag the Morning of the Deadly Rampage |
CNN.” CNN, Cable News Network Warner Bros, 13 Sept. 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/
09/12/us/georgia-school-shooting-colt-gray-ar-15/index.html.
