Final Sources
When I started reading our assignment
sheet a few weeks ago and saw that we had to do an argument essay I had so many
ideas that popped into my head. Later that night I was sitting down with my
kids and the news was on, I should have learned by now to not let my children
watch the news but I didn’t. Well anyways that night on the news there was a
report about another school shooting. My son who is five and half looked at me
and said “Mommy, I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.” My heart just broke
into two and right then I knew that I needed to do something for my children. I
decided then that I wanted to do my paper on keeping my kids and everybody kids
safe at school.
The first source that I found is an article called Police, Practice
and Research by Julie Kiernan Coon and Lawrence F. Travis III. This article
talks a lot about a recent study involving police officers and or law
enforcements in schools. The main thing that I found interesting is under the
section Safety Planning and Meetings. The authors of this article wrote “More
than half of principals reported that they worked with the police to develop
safety plans and over 86% said that they had an emergency plan agreement with
the police. While over 80% of principals said that they had school safety
committees, fewer than half reported that representatives of law enforcement
regularly attended school safety meetings.” Ok correct me if I am wrong but shouldn’t law
enforcement be showing up to these meetings??
My second source is a very
emotional source. I was able to find a speech delivered by Veronique Pozner
mother of Noah Pozner the six year old little boy who was shot and killed during
the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. I am not going to write the whole
speech but I feel that a few quotes from a mother who lost her son will remind
people why we need more security. “Most of all I will miss your visions of your
future.” “A little maverick, who didn’t always want to do his schoolwork or
clean up his toys, when practicing his ninja moves or Super Mario on the Wii
seemed far more important.” “Take flight my boy. Soar. You now have the wings
you always wanted.” “Momma loves you, little man.” No parent should ever have
to say those words because they were sending their child to school to get an education. Below you will see a picture of the sweet boy Noah!
My final source is a book I
came across while researching security. It is called Keeping American
Schools Safe by Anne G. Garrett. In this book the author talks a lot about
how parents can help provide a safe environment while at school. She isn’t saying
the parent needs to stand guard at their children’s classroom door. She is
talking about help outside the school that can help lead towards a safe child
at school. For one Anne G. Garrett talks about being a positive role model. She
also talks about family support, community support and therapy. In another
section Anne G. Garrett tells about a school in Haywood County. She tells about
how the superintendent made a checklist for all the schools in his county and
called it the Safe School Checklist. He visits each school and checks on how
well they are doing on their list. I feel that if more schools did this, we are
one step closer to a safer school.
I feel like I still have more
research that I need to cover and I would love to get the perspective of a
police officer on how they would feel about a full time job covering the same
school grounds and getting to know the children. I have done a survey and found
that every parent I asked would love to have security at their children’s
school. I hope to get some more responses to my survey question.
1)Pozner,Veronique How Do We
Protect Our Children Right Now?." Vital
Speeches Of The Day 79.2 (2013): 036-038. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Print
2)Coon, Julie
Kiernan, and Lawrence F. Travis. "The Role Of Police In Public Schools: A
Comparison Of Principal And Police Reports Of Activities In Schools." Police Practice & Research 13.1
(2012): 15-30. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Print
3)Garrett,
Anne, Keeping American Schools Safe, McFarland & Company, Inc., publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London 2011 Print
