Paul's Heart

School’s Out – It Is Time To Do Something Now

Schools are ending their 2017-2018 calendar years.

There is less than two months to address and deal with the increase of violence in our schools at all grade levels, elementary, middle, and high schools.

Our government is doing nothing on a federal level.  Some states are responding on state levels.  Ultimately, it is going to fall on local governments such as school districts to take the steps necessary to keep the children safe, with as much effort as we do at airports, courthouses, and rock concerts.

My generation was probably the last to be able to attend school without police officers and metal detectors.  My generation was probably the last to not have to worry about being killed at school.  Sadly, children today, that is all they know.  In spite of intruder drills, children still cannot feel safe that they can survive any kind of assault by someone bent on mass murder.

According to the CDC, homicides are the second leading cause of death for kids between the ages of 5 to 18.  Weapons brought to school are typically brought from home.  There are all kinds of statistics from weapons, to times of day, and other factors.  But all these statistics do, is just continue dialogue.  No one is coming up with solutions.

More guns in the hands of citizens will not solve this.

Video games are not the cause of school violence.

Fatherlessness is not causing the violence.

Armed teachers will not solve this.

Students with clear back packs will not solve this.

“See something, say something” has not solved this.

Kevlar plates inside of backpacks will not solve this.

Intruder drills do not solve this.

It is not this hard.  How often do you hear of weapons in an airport compared to school violence?  How often do you hear of weapons in a courthouse compared to school violence?  How often do you hear of weapons at a concert compared to school violence?  But while we all argue over rights and weapons of choice, we are not coming up with any solutions.  More children and teachers continue to die.

Can we all just agree, that until we come up with a solution, we need to at least prevent weapons from being carried into the schools?  Can we have a controlled number of entrances into schools?  Can we have not only an armed officer at each entrance, but also the technology or tools necessary to detect weapons like screening machines used at airports and courthouses and concerts?

Sure, there will be plenty of complaints about the costs to implement these prevention measures, but compare those costs of nearly $20 billion dollars in medical costs each year as a result of violence in our schools.  Instead of arguing about the weapon used, admitting there were warning signs but ignored them anyway, we need to at least stop the weapons from getting into the schools.

No one wants to see the schools be secured this way.  But the routine of get shot, offer thoughts and prayers, blame guns, forget, and then repeat at the next event, leaves us no other choice.  The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.  Of course, security at airports, courthouses, and concerts is not perfect, but the occurrences are much less than those at schools.

But of course, I am sure everyone is open to any suggestions that will prevent the next school shooting, and for now, we know there will be another one.  It is just a question of when and where.

We owe our children the right to a free and safe education.  Time is running out to prevent the next violent mass murder once the new school year begins.  Please do something before the start of the 2018-2019 school year.  We already know students and their families are depending on it.