School Shooting Newtown CT

[sigmagirl2000]

This is a town and school I had been to. I have friends and family in Sandy Hook, other parts of Newtown, and other surrounding communities. One of my co-workers did her student teaching at Sandy Hook Elementary last year. It's not that I was deeply saddened and angered by all the other school and mass shootings, but this hit really close to home and made everything so harsh and real. This is a town similar to where I grew up, similar to the town where I teach. The high school where I teach has open campus policies such that students or anyone else can enter and exit as they please. I've stated since I began working at this school that I feel seriously unsafe. I get weird looks for that statement, as it is a very quiet and affluent community full of privileged students.
I hope that schools and communities can work to create safer schools. I hope these families can begin to heal. There are all sorts of outpourings of love, support, etc. all over MA and CT radios. I'm sure this is the same in other places as well.

Sigh. This sucks.

[IndianaSigKap]

As someone with a journalism degree, I have seen the break down of the journalism profession partially due to the need to the report the news first. In this instant news internet age, the first stories are not usually the most accurate. In the race to post first, the facts are often garbled or lost completely. Then those who reported those incorrect facts most often do not go back and set the record straight, they have moved on to the next story. However, in defense of the good, careful journalists out there I have read a few very thoughtful pieces which have restored a little of my journalistic faith.

[SigKapSweetie]

I had to go to City Hall last week. At the only entrance, there were four friendly police officers, all armed, who checked my bag and had me walk through a metal detector before giving me directions to the office I needed and sending me on my merry way. If we can provide this sort of protection to our elected officials, why not to our kids at public schools? Just having officers with guns at the door may do a lot to deter those who are looking for a 'soft' target. Nothing says "Attack here, helpless people inside!" like the Gun-Free Zone signs outside of our schools.

[pshsx1]

Originally Posted by SigKapSweetie

I had to go to City Hall last week. At the only entrance, there were four friendly police officers, all armed, who checked my bag and had me walk through a metal detector before giving me directions to the office I needed and sending me on my merry way. If we can provide this sort of protection to our elected officials, why not to our kids at public schools? Just having officers with guns at the door may do a lot to deter those who are looking for a 'soft' target. Nothing says "Attack here, helpless people inside!" like the Gun-Free Zone signs outside of our schools.

But when I go to the middle schools in Detroit with barbed wire fenced, armed personnel, and metal detectors, I feel like I'm walking into a police state. Even though I'm doing nothing wrong, I feel like I have to be extra careful with everything I do. That's not an environment I would want to learn in.

[HQWest]

Originally Posted by pshsx1

But when I go to the middle schools in Detroit with barbed wire fenced, armed personnel, and metal detectors, I feel like I'm walking into a police state. Even though I'm doing nothing wrong, I feel like I have to be extra careful with everything I do. That's not an environment I would want to learn in.

Having worked in a place like that - it can be very stressful. There is always an undercurrent of "what if? what if? what if?" Whatever happened to letting children be innocent? for just a little longer?

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by SigKapSweetie

If we can provide this sort of protection to our elected officials, why not to our kids at public schools?

I've traveled to many high schools across my state and it's not uncommon for them to have metal detectors at the entrances. It's also not uncommon for police officers to be visible at random times/places on high school campuses.

My experience with middle and elementary schools is considerably more limited, so I can only say what it's like at my kids' schools: I cannot enter their schools (outside of normal drop-off/pick-up times) without being buzzed into the building and, once inside, I cannot access any areas where kids may be (classrooms, library, gym, cafeteria, etc...) without first going through the office to obtain a visitor pass.

I have assumed these measures were put into place post-Columbine in an attempt to prevent a similar tragedy. Regardless of the reason, schools are making an effort to protect our kids. Unfortunately, short of living in a bubble, there's no way to anticipate and prepare for the unthinkable acts we're seeing these days.

To be honest, this story is too heartbreaking for me to follow, and I've been deliberately avoiding the news (both online and on TV), which is difficult. Reading this thread is the most active I've been with anything having to do with the tragedy. I don't really have much to add to the discussion, but felt like I should acknowledge that some schools are doing exactly what SigKapSweetie suggested.

I can only hope that once the initial trauma of Friday's events has faded a bit, our country can have an honest, open discussion about our obsession with firearms.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

I have assumed these measures were put into place post-Columbine in an attempt to prevent a similar tragedy.

That's one reason, along with more general concern about unauthorized access to schools and to students. Here all middle schools have at least one "resource office" (a sheriff''s deputy); high schools have more.

I can only hope that once the initial trauma of Friday's events has faded a bit, our country can have an honest, open discussion about our obsession with firearms.

Yes, and about mental illness, and about densensitization (is that a word?) to violence in our culture, and . . . .

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Yes, and about mental illness, and about densensitization (is that a word?) to violence in our culture, and . . . .

Yes, absolutely.

[ZTAngel]

Originally Posted by SigKapSweetie

I had to go to City Hall last week. At the only entrance, there were four friendly police officers, all armed, who checked my bag and had me walk through a metal detector before giving me directions to the office I needed and sending me on my merry way. If we can provide this sort of protection to our elected officials, why not to our kids at public schools? Just having officers with guns at the door may do a lot to deter those who are looking for a 'soft' target. Nothing says "Attack here, helpless people inside!" like the Gun-Free Zone signs outside of our schools.

Think about the airport and how people feel their right to privacy is being trampled on by the TSA. How many of those people would want their children going through a metal detector everyday while possibly being subjected to a pat-down by a rent-a-cop? I think you have a good idea, but it would probably get a tremendous amount of push back.

[pshsx1]

We're holding a candlelight vigil tonight at LTU. I just wrote all of the names (after reading their bios), tied them to chrysanthemums, prepped candles, and tied ribbons all day. The floodgates to my emotions are wide open.

[AGDee]

I know our first instinct is "We must find a way to stop this" but (as pessimistic as this is going to sound), I don't see any way to prevent this type of incident. You can lock all the doors, place an armed guard at the door, etc. It won't stop someone from shooting that guard first, then breaking a window to get inside.

There are a lot more precautions in place than there used to be. Schools do lockdown drills regularly. There is more security in place in most places than there was before Columbine.

I looked up some statistics, and an average of six children die daily in traffic accidents. Yes, things like Columbine and Sandy Hook are tragic. My heart hurts for the parents, siblings, grandparents and especially the children. I'm not minimizing how awful this was. But it is a rare event. Thank goodness it is a rare event, but it is a rare event. And we probably can't prevent it, without turning schools into prison like environments.

[adpimiz]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I know our first instinct is "We must find a way to stop this" but (as pessimistic as this is going to sound), I don't see any way to prevent this type of incident. You can lock all the doors, place an armed guard at the door, etc. It won't stop someone from shooting that guard first, then breaking a window to get inside.

There are a lot more precautions in place than there used to be. Schools do lockdown drills regularly. There is more security in place in most places than there was before Columbine.

I looked up some statistics, and an average of six children die daily in traffic accidents. Yes, things like Columbine and Sandy Hook are tragic. My heart hurts for the parents, siblings, grandparents and especially the children. I'm not minimizing how awful this was. But it is a rare event. Thank goodness it is a rare event, but it is a rare event. And we probably can't prevent it, without turning schools into prison like environments.

I completely agree. However, if criminals knew that schools had security guards or something of the like, maybe it would stop them from trying to shoot up schools. Criminals pick security free zones to commit crimes because everyone is defenseless.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by adpimiz

I completely agree. However, if criminals knew that schools had security guards or something of the like, maybe it would stop them from trying to shoot up schools. Criminals pick security free zones to commit crimes because everyone is defenseless.

Would you be willing to tell every school in the country to trade one teacher for a security guard and just make it work?

It's not as if suddenly schools are going to get free money to make something like that happen, so such a thing would come at the cost of fewer teachers or cuts elsewhere and it's really questionable whether a security guard would be an effective deterrent.

The media is in hysterics about this thing. These sorts of shootings are actually on a very steep decline. Go look at the statistics, school shootings are about half as common as they were 20 years go.

[ZTAngel]

Another great article along with suggestions as to how to make it more difficult for these mass murders to occur without revoking the 2nd amendment:

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openfo...es-4125553.php

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by ZTAngel

Another great article along with suggestions as to how to make it more difficult for these mass murders to occur without revoking the 2nd amendment:

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openfo...es-4125553.php

Not much of an article really, just a BS emotional appeal from someone who was shot by a total sociopath. Of course there's not one single thing he proposed which would have prevented that crazy SOB from walking up that driveway and shooting him and his wife and his friend.

I hate that we're all still seriously talking about this "need" of reform. We don't need to do jack squat. At least not immediately. Laws made directly in the wake of emotional events typically aren't well thought out or even needed.

These types of shootings are becoming more rare, not more common and saying that the NRA has blood on its hands is just silly.

Those of you on the East and West coast probably don't really understand. You call 911 and typically, if it's a real emergency, you don't have to wait very long for the police to arrive.

Out here in the sticks, it's quite a bit different. Even if you live in a fairly dense place like Oklahoma County, if you live in an unincorporated part of the county or in a town which doesn't have the money for its own police station (we have those) a sheriff could be a good couple of hours away--more if he's otherwise occupied when you call. That's not much comfort when someone is trying to kick in your back door and your nearest neighbor is a half-mile away.