Sworn to Protect

Executive Perspective

There was a time when children felt safe in school. Many more children were likely to be hurt at home than in school. In fact, reliable statistics continue to affirm that children are safer in school, but the growing rash of homicides that are the result of active shooters are making children and school staff anxious about being in school.

Since the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, there have been 285 deaths attributed to active shooters on school campuses. The tragedy in mid-February that took the lives of 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., sparked a reaction among students there that we had not seen previously. Organized mass walkouts and other forms of protests by the Parkland students and the thousands they have inspired across the country have forced policymakers to consider stronger laws to help keep our students safer. Prominent companies have voluntarily moved to restrict the sale of weapons to individuals under the age of 21 and to halt the outright sale of assault rifles.

I am sure that we were all proud to see the level of maturity demonstrated by our students and how articulate they proved to be before the television cameras. They are the product of our schools and the reason why we love public education.

Our Personal Messages

Unfortunately, the rash of active shooters on our campuses has not ceased, and the carnage of children and staff members continues. AASA’s position paper on school safety, adopted after the murder of 20 children and six staff members in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, states: “If we hope to prevent future tragedies at schools, we must comprehensively address both school safety and gun safety. Increased mental health services, community supports for youth, and new attitudes about violence in our entertainment must all be part of this approach. We must be willing to spend the time and resources necessary to make sustainable changes. AASA hopes that school leaders find ways of enhancing their current school safety procedures as outlined above, but we know federal funding is critical to ensuring schools remain the safest place for children to be. The time to address school safety is now.”

In addition, AASA has taken steps to provide useful information and resources to our school system leaders who are confronted by tragedies in their schools and communities. For almost two years now, I have been sending personal messages to superintendents in school districts that are experiencing a tragic event. In my communication, I offer our sincere condolences and our willingness to help. We refer them to resources that can help with communications, grief counseling, school safety and security, legal advice and potential funding sources. We refer them to superintendents who have dealt with similar tragedies and can offer counsel.

This past year has wrought an unprecedented series of tragedies upon many of our school communities. Hurricanes and flooding affected many school districts in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. AASA donated more than $130,000 to the affected communities. Fires and floods impacted neighborhoods in California and the occasional tornado and earthquake did damage throughout the South and Midwest. We are working now with school security experts and superintendents to develop a resource toolkit that will be available for system leaders to keep on hand in the event of a crisis.

In a letter from President and Mrs. Obama to the students of Parkland, they tell the students, “Not only have you supported and comforted each other, but you’ve helped awaken the conscience of the nation, and challenged decision makers to make the safety of our children the country’s top priority.”

A New Balance

Although there are moves in the right direction, school shootings and other tragedies have become the new normal in our schools, and superintendents will need to be trained to not only educate our students, but also to keep them safe and alive. We will need to find the balance between a safe and secure environment and a school campus that is conducive to learning and not a prison.

AASA has advocated strongly for federal funding to support troubled students with the counseling and related services that will keep them from resorting to violence. We need mental detectors, not more metal detectors. Along with academics, schools also must consider the social and emotional needs of our children. We no longer can just focus on test scores at the expense of ignoring the cries for personal help from the children we are sworn to not only educate but also protect.