After Parkland, Saint Stephen’s reflects on safety, gun control
After another school shooting rocked America, our school community reflects on what we are doing to keep our school safe.
April 9, 2018
Columbine, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, and now Parkland. School shootings, in fact, shootings in general, are spreading like a plague across America. There have been seven since the beginning of 2018. As soon as victims of one are healing, another one strikes. This past February in Parkland, Florida, another tragic shooting occurred.
On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz, a former student of the school, opened fire on students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. After 17 souls lost their lives during the shooting, Americans are all feeling very lost, wondering, what next?
There is a lot of anger and confusion swirling around the nation about how to keep our schools and public spaces safe. In particular, opinions have been split on gun control and what to do next.
On a more local level, it is essential to reflect on what we can do as a community and what steps Saint Stephen’s ought to take in order to prepare us and our community.
A mass shooting is defined as an event where four or more people, not including the perpetrator, are killed. The national statistics for gun-related incidents are staggering. On average, there are over 70,000 nonfatal gun injuries, 35,000 deaths every year, and 300-400 mass shootings in the U.S. per year, according to the BBC Network.
Many in our school community, and communities across America, are dealing with concerns and fears, and it’s worth reflecting on our own practices in order to feel more safe.
In Parkland, Cruz walked into the high school carrying a duffel bag, after arriving by Uber. He was not checked by anyone and he opened fire on students and teachers in the freshmen class building, shooting in the hallway and five different classrooms.
He then proceeded to discard of all his weapons and simply walk out with the rest of the students. He was later picked up by police after visiting a Walmart and McDonalds. The lack of security and preparedness has raised some questions, and everyone keeps asking: “Why was it so easy for Cruz to get on their campus?”
The debate is now raging in America about how to change, or not change, gun laws. The gun control debate generally has two sides: one that opposes weapon restrictions and one that encourages weapon restrictions. Both sides have backing from millions of people.
Loading ... Loading ...After the recent shooting, students across the country have been standing up and calling for stricter gun laws. On the other hand, people have had ideas about arming teachers as a deterrent to school shooters. Neither of these ideas has made much progress as of yet, but they will be important events for the American public.
Just recently in the Sarasota/Bradenton area, there have been many scares at local schools, including lockdowns, arrests, and cancellations. Schools within our vicinity, including Riverview High, Bayshore High, Manatee High, Southeast High, and Cardinal Mooney, to name a few, have suffered from these threats. These threats have often come from students within the schools and spike soon after a major national event like the Parkland school shooting.
Many people ask what causes someone to do such a thing and what they can look out for. From a study conducted by the Department of Education, 98 percent of attacks are committed by someone who has experienced a major loss in their life, 78 percent of attackers had a history of suicidal tendencies, 71 percent of attackers felt bullied or threatened, and 95 percent of attacks were committed by someone attending the school.
Dr. Pullen, the Head of School, said that the Saint Stephen’s community is very safe due to a variety of scaffoldeds measures that have arisen on campus over the years.
Dr. Pullen said, however, that “schools should be safe havens for children, but I’m afraid that that isn’t happening.” She mentioned that schools are always talking about increasing their safety but never actually doing enough to protect the students.
The Gauntlet asked Dr. Pullen what the school has done to keep us safe, and she said that since the Sandy Hook shooting, which was six years ago, we have put up the fences (which surround the property), included locked gate systems, and tightened up the process for people entering the school. We also require parents to wear ID badges.
Currently, the administration has had three security audits performed, where outside officials come and test the overall safety of the campus, and all of them felt Saint Stephen’s to be a very safe campus.
The final question we asked Dr. Pullen was whether or not Saint Stephen’s was thinking about arming some component of the faculty. She responded that she fundamentally disagrees with the movement to arm teachers because teachers are in place to teach people, not shoot them.
In a conversation with Mr. Forrester, he explained that we have a special procedure in case of an emergency event: school faculty has a direct line of communication with the Bradenton police department; teachers and administrators collectively know all the students so anyone unknown would be recognized; and lastly, during the day there are only two points of entry into the campus.
Any of these signs are something to look out for. Being able to recognize these situations is the key to prevention and saving lives.
Jeremy Paynter • Apr 9, 2018 at 8:41 pm
A very well thought out and presented article. Kuddos for not injecting any personal or political bias. It is a very complex issue and there is no single solution. I would suggest not using a foreign media outlet to quote statistics on gun violence in the United States. The FBI keeps records of statistics on all crimes in the United States that is accessible to the public. Most “mass shootings” in the US are committed in large metropolitan areas. Not schools, concerts and other mass congregations of people.