My Experience With “School Safety” Isn’t All That Safe

Assignments at local schools are among my favorite stories to cover. There are usually a group of eager students waiting to have their pictures taken and it’s not that difficult to get them riled up about appearing in their hometown newspaper. I also enjoy the welcoming feeling I receive from administrators and guards at the front desk of any given public school where I’ll be interviewing students and teachers about their achievements.

Usually, after I sign in at the front desk and a security guard has looked at my identification, they’ll give me a sticker with my name scribbled on it, which I’ll slap on my shirt or jacket. Security  then sends me to the main office – always located in the same place, to the right of the security desk – where I’ll ask someone to track down the teacher or coordinator of an event I’m about to cover. In the main office, there are usually a few ladies – some who have no clue that the Canarsie Courier is scheduled to make a visit – ready to page whoever I need to interview.

Who's protecting our schools?

After getting instructions on which room the festivities are taking place in – if they’re not in the auditorium or cafeteria – I’ll be told where to go and which staircase to take so I can reach my destination.

Seems simple enough.

 

Well…that’s the problem – it’s TOO simple! I may be the one of the safest people you want walking through the halls of a public school, but I don’t understand why our schools don’t provide SOME type of escort to make sure guests make it to the classrooms without an incident.

What is the Department Of Education’s (DOE) real policy on transporting guests from the main office to a classroom? Most of our public schools – not including high schools – don’t have metal detectors. We follow suburban models of schools like Sandy Hook Elementary School – where all of the school doors are locked, but if someone finds a way in and they’re armed…Are our schools ready for the possibility of an irrational mass shooting?

I sometimes ask myself why the public school I’m visiting isn’t concerned if I’m in possession of weapon. What if I did carry a firearm – for my own safety – and one of the students got a hold of it? Could someone else – including an outraged parent or guardian – just walk in, go through the same standard screening process that I did, and be told to go to the second floor without an escort to make sure they arrive at their destination without anything going wrong?

No matter who has business in a public school, there should be two guards on duty at all times during school hours – one at the entrance desk and another to take visitors to whatever room they’re going to. What about irate parents who might be dangerous and take matters into their own hands? Are our schools prepared for any dangerous situation that might arise?

I had an experience a few months ago that disturbed me while covering a school story. As I made my way to the front desk, I saw the security guard on her phone, which was flat on the desk. I had to sign in, so I waited, assuming she was in the midst of messaging someone – or that maybe she had an imperative note she was entering in her Smartphone. When I got closer, I saw that her head was buried (she didn’t even know I was standing there) and that she was playing a game that looked like Bejeweled or something as equally distracting. It took her three minutes, in counting, to look up – away from her mobile game – and notice I was standing there waiting to be signed in.

What if I’d been a crazy ex-student who was armed like Adam Lanza? Could I have just as easily made it past this distracted security guard? Even after she finally noticed me, apologized and signed me in, all I needed was a flimsy paper pass to go to the third floor – where I roamed the halls looking for the classroom I needed to visit.

Is THIS what the DOE wants?   
Even a newspaper reporter, whose bags weren’t checked, whose pockets weren’t inspected, can freely walk the halls of a building where children are learning?

Actor Vince Vaughn recently said he supports guns in schools to prevent mass shootings. But which are the best schools to equip with guns – if it was legal to have them there? And who would be armed with these guns? The security guards who are too busy laughing on their phones instead of examining visitors’ pockets and baggage?

Let’s get real! In addition to lacking a completely safe environment inside the school, kids lack a safe atmosphere outside of school. In New York City, kids get shot while they’re walking home. They get shot or stabbed during gang melees right outside the building where administrators and teachers worked with them all day – trying to educate them, protect them and possibly deter them from a life of criminal activity.

While the DOE and Governor Andrew Cuomo are concerned about state funds that will go towards testing and the Common Core debacle – and paying for dozens of administrative training programs which may or may not be an advantage, our schools remain vulnerable and our children remain seated in a waiting room for the next massacre.

Unpublished as of June 2, 2015