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| Yes | 52% | 23 votes | Total: 44 votes | |
| No | 48% | 21 votes |
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I realize that, as far as school safety goes, I'm very fortunate in where I live. The schools in my medium-sized city in Southern Ontario, Canada, are just about as safe as schools anywhere can be..
My grandson begins Grade One this September and he is very excited about going to school. Neither he nor his parents are at all apprehensive about his safety while under the supervision of school personnel. Everything possible has been done to ensure the children's safety.
Most school yards are enclosed by tall chain-link fencing. There is a teacher on Yard Duty every morning from 8:30 AM until the bell rings, during recesses, lunch hours and for 15 minutes after dismissal.
There is also a teacher assigned to Bus Duty. She will see that the children who go home by bus all board the vehicle safely. It is the parents' responsibility to meet the children at the stop near their home.
All school offices are located near the front door. Anyone wishing to enter must sign in at the office. Parents who wish to pick up children at times other than dismissal, must check in first and sign a visitors book. No one is allowed to take a child out without written permission from one of the parents.
There is also a lock-down system which can be implemented in case of any dangerous situations which may develop near the school. In case of a potential threat in the neighborhood, such as a violent domestic dispute in which one party may have a gun, all entrances and exits are locked. No one can enter or leave the building until the danger has past.
Unfortunately, many parents remember all too well when our city was the site of the grisly killings by Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo. Because of this, most students are driven to school and picked up after class. The children miss the experience and the beneficial exercise of walking to and from school. It will probably take years before those weeks of horror are forgotten.
However, it must be remembered that neither the abductions nor the murders took place while the girls were under the school's care. Tammy Homolka was in her own home, and Kristen French was walking home from school by herself.
As an added precaution. in the high schools, surveillance cameras have been installed at strategic points throughout the buildings. In case of an emergency, police, fire and ambulance personnel are only a phone call away.
All emergency vehicles are equipped with loud, piercing sirens and blazing multi-colored lights. Traffic routinely pulls over when they approach. In a city like ours, with only about 134,000 people, these vehicles are never more than a few minutes away from their appointed destination.
In my city, St. Catharines, Ontario, most children feel safe at school. It is my earnest prayer that they will continue to do so for many years to come.
Learn more about this author, Carolyn Tytler.
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No
Do children feel safe at school? This is a question that has been asked by parents for the last decade. So let's review the last 10 years shall we? According to the National School Safety and Security service, there have been 280 documented student deaths in the last 10 years resulting from school -related violence. That is 28 students every school year for the last 10 years. That does not include the number of students who were injured but lucky enough to escape with their lives. Let's also consider the idea of rape. It was just a few weeks ago where a female student in Richmond Cal. was raped in front of her school by more than 10 people while on lookers just stood there and did nothing. Would you feel safe going to school after hearing a story like that? I doubt that I would.
According to the Education Resources Information Center kids carry guns to school for a variety of reasons but mostly for protection. In a day and time where gang participation and bullying are up, many students feel that the only way to protect themselves is by carrying a firearm. To assume that with the school shootings, gang rapes and inappropriate student teacher relationships, that children feel safe could be a costly mistake, because with this idea that the children need a firearm also comes the idea that they need to be "cool" and show it to their friends, which in itself is dangerous because the average high school student does not know how to properly use a firearm. They also listen to some very violent music which encourages the use of firearms and encourages violence.
How safe could a child feel when the first thing that they do in the morning is walk through a metal detector and have an officer go through their clear book bags looking for guns, knives or drug paraphernalia? They hear stories of places like Columbine High School, or of stories of Virginia Tech, we as a society can no longer over look the fear that our students are living in while we seek to educate them.
A growing number of parents are taking measures to protect their children by putting them in private schools or just by homeschooling them but a vast majority of societies youth are exposed to violence every day.
Do I think that children really feel safe; the answer is most definitely no. If they really felt safe, there really wouldn't be all that much violence to begin with.
Learn more about this author, Amanda Kringle.
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