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
In regards to your question if law enforcement should be going to the school meetings, I really don't think it is feasible for them to go all of the time. I could see if there was an officer that worked at the school everyday then I would see how that policeman would be involved. I think that law enforcement is involved in the beginning on developing the plan and they introduce it to the District Superintendent and it is probably the district's job to relay the plan to everybody else. I think the law enforcement is probably involved like every 6 months or every year just to re-evaluate their plan and see if anything needs to be updated or changed. I think it would be great if they could attend every meeting but I don't think they have the time or the extra officers to do extra things like that for every school. That is just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think these are some great sources, and i would be interested to hear how the book on school safety says we should help prevent these things from the outside in. Obviously a large topic that goes along with this is the police force, and i also agree that often they don't have the time or resources. As it would be great to have an officer at each school, statistically that would be inefficient, and cost tons of money. A school security guard seems great to me, i would actually prefer for one to be there, but as well that takes money, and I'm not sure how schools are asked to pay for those. The interview with the little boys mom is also very sad and makes you think about how horrible this truly would be. There is not just one answer to this problem clearly, and i would be interested to hear maybe the top three things we could change to boost school safety. Also i would be interested to hear what you think of teachers being able to carry weapons with a license, because that is another slight possibility.(probably not but its a thought)
ReplyDeleteEverything you have so far is good, and i will be interested to see where this progresses too.
good luck
As an older parent I have a difficult time with the idea of having a policeman if it is coupled with metal detectors and locked doors. I want a kid friendly place. I feel this heightens the anxiety of a child for school. The measures for safety should be there but hidden from the child'sight. He does not need to be reminded every time he walks through the door that the reason for it is because kids like themselves have been killed at there schools. Wounds that are constantly picked at don't heal.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about having a policeman there all the time. If the officer treats the children as children and not potential criminals and makes a decision to be their friend and available for them that is fine.
I know that we all felt the horrible sadness that came over everyone that seen and heard about the Sandy Cook Elementary School shooting. These were little innocent angels and never would have deserved to lose their lives to a psycho like that. Who in their right mind would have such a horrible idea to do such a thing. I still cannot believe these poor babies were killed for nothing that was their fault. I love the fact that you are taking this time to focus in on these types of situations. We as the parents need to make sure we are educating our children about these types of scary situations. I look forward to reading the information you gather in your argumentive essay.
ReplyDeleteYour resources are great. I think they add to where you are trying to go with your essay. I have a few questions that may help, why is it the police officers can't make it to those meetings? Is it because they are not able to with everything else they have to do on a daily basis? Would there be a way that it could be a part of their job to spend an hour a month meeting with a school? There must be something that is missing from the first resource because I find it hard to believe they would just not show up. I think the idea about doing things outside of school is the most important. If parents where more involved in their kids lives I personally feel that most if not all school shooting would not have happened. Parents are the key there. Unfortunately there is not a lot we can do to make a parent be a parent if they do not want to be.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in where your essay will end up. I look forward to seeing what solutions or ideas have come to pass about how to protect our little ones while they are getting their education. An interesting thing happened on Friday. My niece's school went on lockdown as school was being let out. Apparently one of the parents that went into the school was drunk or on something, and it scared everyone. The interesting thing about this lockdown is that when it happened, some children were already out of school and some parents were in the school. So the children that were still inside, and the parents that were in the building, were locked in with this man until the administration found him. I don't see how this safety measure could in any way be beneficial if this man had been after anything. It would have put everyone in the building in more danger. This really made me think about what rules we are putting in place to protect our children and if they will actually be effective. Good luck on your paper!
ReplyDelete