The Things to Eliminate for a Safer School

Making a school safer overall requires more than just adding a metal detector or a security guard. In recent years with major news stories about school violence making waves there has been a whole new emphasis on trying to make our schools safer. There have been security cameras installed in schools along with security guards patrolling the halls and while this has certainly lowered the incidents of school violence in some schools, it doesn’t necessarily eliminate the problem. You see, making schools safer means removing all of the things that contribute problems faced by schools.

The following are the factors that have a direct impact on the safety—or rather the lack of safety—in our schools today.

Gangs: The presence of gangs in schools always brings with them the potential for violence, weapons drugs and crime. Gangs thrive on the intimidation of others and work to gain control by threatening others.

Drugs: Drugs threaten the safety of our schools for various reasons. First is the fact that drugs alter the behavior and moods of the people who take them means that you end up with students who are restless, erratic, moody, angry and even violent. People who are addicted to drugs often turn to theft and crime in order to get the money they need to support their habit. Also, when you have drugs in a school then dealers are not far behind and that means weapons and an increased risk of violence because of drug deals gone wrong.

Bullying: Bullying may seem pretty harmless, but it can actually have a huge impact on a child’s self esteem, affect their grades and lead to isolation, depression and even violence when they reach their breaking point and lash out in anger. Also, bullies don’t necessarily stop at just calling names and the occasional shove. Bullying many times becomes physical and violent which is why having a zero-tolerance policy for bullying is important.

Weapons: This may go without saying, but weapons in school compromise the safety of everyone in the school. Some states still allow concealed weapons on school campuses as long as they are legally obtained and carried by someone who is licensed, but who’s to say that a licensed person won’t be pushed to use it or didn’t go through the trouble of obtaining it legally in order to do something illegal with it? And, whenever there are guns there is always the risk for accidents—especially when there are children present. Keeping weapons out of school is s must for safety.

Cleaning up our schools and making them safer requires looking at every factor that can affect your school’s safety. Raise awareness and work together to eliminate all of the things that are putting your kids at risk.