School Safety

I can remember way back when the High School I went to didn't even issue student ID cards. It wasn't until a school in our conference began to have problems that we were given student IDs to attend functions hosted at that school such as track and basketball games. It was a strange experience for us students who only traveled about fifteen miles, to enter a school with security guards. In the next couple of years, the guards were armed to keep up with the kids and doors were secured. Passing through metal detectors as we exited the buses and entered the building created an uneasy feeling for all of us on the team. As a student I joked at how going to school was like being in a prison, were we so wrong? Has it evolved to that extent just so kids can stay safe? During my senior year at a different school, there was the presence of drugs and alcohol, but school administrators were powerless to search student lockers without their consent. We impowered the criminials not the school administrators to provide a safe environment. Only recently are schools getting the support of the law they need to watch and investigate students who are operation outside of school policies. School facilty and students know who the bullies are, yet our society turns a blind eye at the bully and his or her behavior. No consequences for their action reenforces the behavior until it builds into what we are experiencing today. School shootings on the evening news. It is up to citizens to get involved, it is your money being used to operate those schools, time to step up and voice how it is used. A new weight machine for a few football jocks or a new liaison officer actively involved with the kids each day at school. Just my opinion.