Where Does School Safety Start?
Indeed, where does it start? Does it start with high tech security equipment? Or does it start with lots of school safety officers assigned to each school? I don’t think so and neither does Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, who was the keynote speaker for the Middlesex Partnerships For Youth’s 13th Annual School Safety Summit. In his speech, Gerry Leone said:
The only way we can protect our students and establish a truly positive learning environment is to establish a healthy school climate. That is why it is critical that schools establish a system in which students feel comfortable in reporting a threat and for schools to have threat assessment teams to assess and, if necessary, respond to those threats.
I agree wholeheartedly with this kind of thinking. All of our schools can have the best security equipment installed and we might still have to fear for our children’s safety. Who is to say that an armed person would not be able to find a weak point in the system? Who is to say that the school bus which our kids take will not be taken hostage by some stranger? Who is to say that our children waiting at the bus stop will not be hurt by a drive by shooting?
The bottom line is that safety rests in more than protecting our children from potential danger. Safety rests in changing the mindsets of everyone involved – and in this case, it means everyone. Parents, students, teachers, school administrators, police, safety officers – all of us should re-evaluate how we think and behave in our daily lives. Parents, especially should re-examine how and what we teach our children about core principles and values.
I laud the efforts of Middlesex Partnerships For Youth as they continue to hold these summits yearly. In doing so, they are opening the eyes of countless people to the fact that school safety is everyone’s responsibility and that it needs to start at the very basic level.
By the way, if you are interested in finding out more about Middlesex Partnerships For Youth, here is a bit of info:
MPY is a non-profit organization established in 1988 by the Middlesex district attorney’s office to foster communication on school-related legal issues relating to substance abuse and violence. Through Project Alliance, MPY’s primary initiative, the non-profit provides prevention and intervention resources, as well as training and programming to Middlesex school districts and communities using a combination of education, training and technical support. To address a variety of youth health and safety issues. MPY’s membership now includes over 60 school districts. For more information on Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. and Project Alliance, visit www.middlesexpartnershipsforyouth.org.
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Posted on October 6th, 2008 by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, High School, K-6, News, Parents, People Involved, School Grade Level, School Safety Issues, Students
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