There is no magic wand that a school board, superintendent, or even a principal can wield to make schools safe. It is a community effort and culture that work together to magnify the importance of the local schools and their legitimate purpose of educating our children in a safe environment, free from distraction. There is no policy or procedure that can stop the purely demonic event of someone entering our schools to hurt kids. There is no system of locked doors, secret codes, signs posted at the front door, or mechanical protocols that are going to stop someone from hurting another human being. Even the physical presence of a law enforcement officer on every campus in America will not guarantee complete safety from such acts of violence. The events of 9/11 are a great example of how a small group of committed individuals can reek havoc when they are willing to sacrifice their own lives to fulfill their objective. However, there is hope. There is training and awareness that schools, emergency responders, and community members can participate in regularly that can reduce casualties in these senseless situations that paralyze us with fear.
A SOFT TARGET
It is my personal belief that schools are singled out as easy targets for mass carnage because they are open to the public, full of students, and a place where opposition to a cowardly assault is unlikely. I do not know if more guns in the building is the answer, however, if a school is perceived as a hard target, these individuals will be less likely to walk in the door with ill intent. Research shows that people who commit such acts do not want to be confronted by an opposing force, that is why they are prepared to take their own life before anyone else does. If a perpetrator knows that a professionally trained peace officer is likely to be in the building they will be less likely to enter. At the end of the day, all of the training, personnel, guns, and locked doors may still fall short of keeping students 100% safe. This is the world we live in, and to tell you anything would not be true.
A HARD TARGET
This is a common view of schools in an urban area and unfortunately, rural areas such as Rawlins, and Baggs, are not exempt from violent incidents. CCSD #1 schools must be viewed as hard targets that will not go gently into that goodnight. What can we do to improve school safety? Contact your legislators and tell them that school resource officers or SRO's are valuable and need to be commonplace in school districts. States should be funding these positions if they care enough about school safety. Monitor your students closely and if you ever hear anything suspicious concerning school safety, let a school official know immediately. CCSD #1 schools have and will continue to implement the latest safety precautions to protect our students. Lock-down drills have been conducted with local law enforcement, and will continue to be a regular part of our safety training. Finally, pray for our schools, our students, and our staff that we are protected from this kind of nonsense. Using a Biblical illustration, a school should be a place of peace, a haven of rest, green pastures, still waters, here kids should have their hearts, souls, and minds restored by loving adults who care for them as their parents do.
School violence is a spiritual problem in our country, and know that my #1 concern as your superintendent is for the safety of our students while they are in my care. Every other piece of school data is a very, very distant second.
As always,
CARBON 1 UP!
