The Safety Within

How does our school keep us safe from school shooters?

Ava Conolly, Student Writer

What would go through your mind if you were sitting in class and heard a loud sound that sounded like a gunshot and then a crowd of people started screaming in the halls running away from the loud noise? Your heart would start to race, you would fill with fear, or maybe you would be in shock. Imagine the pain of getting a text from your child saying “I love you” randomly because they are unsure that they’ll be home for dinner. Since the start of the 2021 school year, there have already been 32 school shootings. As a student who fears the stories of places such as Oxford, Columbine, Sandy Hook and so many more, I wonder how my own school keeps me safe.

Increase in school shootings from 1970-2020

There are many ways that Pennridge keeps their kids safe from the dangers within. Starting with the Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate drill, better known as ALICE. The ALICE drills are performed annually and the Pennridge staff are also trained annually on the protocols.      During an ALICE drill, the loudspeakers come on and describe the exact location of the shooter. The teachers then decide if it is safer to evacuate their children to the church down the road or lockdown and barricade in their class. While talking to some Pennridge staff, I learned that there are plans for an ALICE drill to occur after the new year.

Pennridge takes everything very seriously when it comes to social media. If there is a threat posted online, fake or not, they will take the precautions necessary to research it. They might involve the police and investigate it. There are also security cameras throughout the building and random searches during class.

While talking to Dr. Bolton, he said “the key part is relationships… I think that trust goes a long way to make a student feel safe wherever they are… I am most aware of emotional safety.” Pennridge keeps a trusted and friendly environment that makes everyone feel they can speak out if they need to. If they have a concern, they can report it to teachers, programs (such as “safe to say” or “SAP”), or the guidance counselor. While talking about ways to improve Pennridge, Mr. Branch said “As we grow, we will continue to improve, but I give a lot of credit to the kids. They report it, they don’t just blow it off. It is a huge win and key to the safety in the school.”

If there was a sound of a gunshot in the building, what would be the first steps of the staff? Mr. Branch without hesitation said, “I would run to the gunshot.” A huge issue with school shootings is that the officers must get to the school and then wait for backup. This happened with the Columbine shooting and those few moments of waiting lost a few lives. Luckily Pennridge has Mr. Branch and Mr. Gallo, who are two school police officers on the school grounds, and they are the only two who bear arms on the school premises. For them to bear a

Class Performing the ALICE drill

arms in school, they both do extensive training and qualify for the weapons as well as meet the state requirements. There are also online classes and police training. Before becoming a school police officer, Mr. Branch was a defense attacker and on the swat team. As you can tell, Pennridge’s security is very highly trained and qualified to keep us safe. They’re not afraid to go straight to the danger to protect the kids.

Many Philadelphia schools have metal detectors and x-rays to check the kids for weapons each day. I asked both Mr. Branch and Dr. Bolton about their opinions on the idea of metal detectors. Dr. Bolton stated “[metal detectors] are an opinion… do they make you feel safer or less safe? Why are they doing this, should you worry? It’s a tough line and it relates back to relationship and trust.” Mr. Branch commented “You would need to have more staff to work them and the metal detectors would catch keys and set off the alarm forcing us to take them out. It is time consuming, but we do have hand-held ones if we do need them.” Metal detectors have more cons for our school and bringing them into the building would instill a sense of fear in the students.

What does Pennridge do about students letting in others whether it’s with lunch release or late arrival? Walking around the school in 20-degree weather is not ideal, so they get their friends to let them in. There is a concern that they can sneak things while all the security is busy, and no one has eyes on them. While Pennridge is aware of this issue, they are formulating ideas to prevent this. They have plenty of security footage to make sure everyone is safe, and the security guards go wherever they are needed. They also are thinking of placing someone by the athletic entrance to avoid this, but they encourage students to walk to the main entrance and get let in by security.

Pennridge takes many precautions to avoid any dangers within their building. They create a safe and trusting environment, so kids feel safe. They also take all the outside measures to secure the safety inside the Pennridge walls and make sure they know what to do in case events take a turn for the worse.

Sources:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2021/12/02/oxford-high-school-shooting-michigan-update-today/8835598002/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS965US965&sxsrf=AOaemvImSq-8m_ssxVhtF-IkLLGDb8enVQ:1638539926478&q=biggest+school+shooting&tbm=nws&source=univ&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjE9ZHy5Mf0AhWKkokEHd9PCFoQt8YBegQIIxAG&biw=1366&bih=657&dpr=1&safe=active&ssui=on

https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-we-know-what-would-prevent-many-school-shootings-why-dont-we-do-it/

https://theconversation.com/most-school-shooters-get-their-guns-from-home-and-during-the-pandemic-the-number-of-firearms-in-households-with-teenagers-went-up-172951

https://www.britannica.com/technology/gun-control