School Campus Security in USA

[teacups]

I am on a rant and I want to know if I am alone in my thinking about school security. Elementary school says it is beefing up security measures after a new parent (me) pointed out issues. They now lock the doors... most of the time. They will not enforce it with the outside portable buildings though, where classes are held all day. (why should those kids be as safe as the rest of the school?) and the school yard is fully fenced. BUT the neigboring houses (used to be homeowners, now mostly renters.) can AND DO install gates so they can get to school easier. INSANE! Whatever Im doing to make my voice heard is lost. No parents here will back us up for fear of causing trouble or looking badly. What to do? Have called the district. They wont even return calls. Principle says he is trying to MAKE teachers lock portable building class doors but they wont... etc, etc. Maybe I am homeschool material becasue I care too much about safety. That doesnt seem right. Anyone else feel this way? SECURITY SHOULD BE SECURE!

 

[salmoneous]

No place will ever be 100% secure. Right now I bet your elementary school - unlocked door on portable buildings and all - is one of the safest places on earth.

Look, I'm not telling a mother to stop worrying about the safety of her children. You do what you can to minimize the risks. But at some point you just have to accept there is still some risk out there and live with it.

EDIT - I think you also have to give a little more credit to the other parents at the school. Assuming that they are all cowards unwilling to speak up is a bit much, don't you think? Perhaps they've looked at the risks and - using their parenting judgement - are OK with the situation.

 

[teacups]

I appreciate your view... I dont agree obviously, but I want to hear what the "normal" person thiks! I know I worry...

 

[va32h]

I'm not sure why renters are considered somehow more dangerous than homeowners?

Are they putting a gate actually into the school fence? So that there is no space between the private yard and the school grounds? That does strike me as odd.

We used to live (rent!) directly behind a school also, and we had a back gate that led to an alleyway, which then led to the school property (which had a gate.)

Gates don't bother me - the lack of them isn't much of a deterrent as people can just climb over a fence if they really want to.

Keeping the portables unlocked may have to do with fire codes.

Although there are sensational stories in the news, the chance of children being attacked while in school is really very small.

I am more worried about the walk home from school myself, which is why I still pick them up by car each day.

 

[Hannathy]

I think you are a bit over the top IMO. Our schools lock all but one door but none are fenced in. Just what do you think a fence is going to do to someone who wants in. And having the doors locked is just to make the parents feel good it really wouldn't stop someone who wanted to get in and do something- yeah right that volunteer screening people is really going to stop someone with a gun. If we didn't have so many 24 hour news channels trying to fill the time between commercials half of the hysteria that is around now wouldn't be.

Possible the parents just don't agree with you - I know I don't- and aren't being cowards just think you are wrong.

 

[missypie]

I think security measures are designed to make people feel better. I don't think they deter much crime. If a person is nuts enough to commit random murders, it would be so easy. So you can't get into the elementary school...go over to the middle school basketball game and buy a ticket, then start shooting when a crowd forms; go to any church on Sunday morning; go to the mall on Satuday; walk into a crowded restaurant. We are all very lucky that there aren't more violent nuts in the world, because you can't lock down life. (But we could make it harder to get guns!!!)

 

[teacups]

Ooops, not dogging on renters! Nope. Not at all. Here's the thought: The school says those houses (there are probably about 30-40 houses that back to the school) are mostly parents. My thing is, now that they are mostly rented houses is that you dont know who is there, parent or not. I was simply trying to back up my hysteria (and actually that is exactly what I feel like I have, but knowing it doesnt make it any better) that the school can not possibly say they know each person in those houses. There are something like 25 registered sex offenders with in a 2 mile radius. Maybe it was 5 miles... cant recall. And yes, they actually can walk form their back yards right onto the school grounds, where these little kids have recess. I am so worried about anyone being able to simply open a gate, grab a kid, shut the gate and who would ever know.
And for the portables: It worries me that the principle has asked the teachers to lock them but doesnt seem to be able to enforce her word.
I have actually had parents tell me they agree, and are all for someone talking to the school, but dont want to get involved. Why is it that I am so freaked out with this hysterical fear when it comes to kids? I am not like this in any other area... just where kids are involved. And now, here , I feel like the only one who seems to see it this way. I am not pointing any fingers at all of you... more, I am thinking "I've lost it" in some way.

 

[missypie]

I think that non-custodial parents, boy friends of moms, etc. are more of an actual danger to kids. I think that most day care centers are pretty strict about who a child is allowed to go home with - if the non-custodial mom is not allowed to take the child, they won't let her. But it's harder to enforce this in a school with more kids. Locally last year, a mom's boyfriend (or 2nd husband?) signed a boy out of school, then murdered him. It wasn't a random act of violence at all.

I work at a large law firm. I'm not worried about random violence, terrorists, etc. in the work place. It is far more likely that a party who had a bad outcome would come in and target someone. And that is the type of person who would most likely get past security.

 

[va32h]

Ooops, not dogging on renters! Nope. Not at all. Here's the thought: The school says those houses (there are probably about 30-40 houses that back to the school) are mostly parents. My thing is, now that they are mostly rented houses is that you dont know who is there, parent or not. I was simply trying to back up my hysteria (and actually that is exactly what I feel like I have, but knowing it doesnt make it any better) that the school can not possibly say they know each person in those houses. There are something like 25 registered sex offenders with in a 2 mile radius. Maybe it was 5 miles... cant recall. And yes, they actually can walk form their back yards right onto the school grounds, where these little kids have recess. I am so worried about anyone being able to simply open a gate, grab a kid, shut the gate and who would ever know.
And for the portables: It worries me that the principle has asked the teachers to lock them but doesnt seem to be able to enforce her word.
I have actually had parents tell me they agree, and are all for someone talking to the school, but dont want to get involved. Why is it that I am so freaked out with this hysterical fear when it comes to kids? I am not like this in any other area... just where kids are involved. And now, here , I feel like the only one who seems to see it this way. I am not pointing any fingers at all of you... more, I am thinking "I've lost it" in some way.

You don't know who is in a purchased house either. You have no way of knowing who goes in and out of anyone's house except your own.

Does your sex offender regsitry specify what sort of crimes the offenders committed? Not all of them are going to be pedophiles, although that's a cold comfort. Some of them could be boys with girlfriends who were 16.

There are only so many things in life you can control. Who lives in your neighborhood is probably not one of them.

 

[I Love Pluto]

Our elementary school was very careless in leaving outside doors wide open, not just unlocked. This lack of security became real in October when a man shot the manager of a restaurant located next to our school.

The man ran through our school with his loaded gun. He didn't do anything, he was just using our building as a shortcut to his home. We were horrified. The next day, our individual classroom doors were given locks, we were given keys, and the outside doors now remain closed at all times.

Parents - speak up. These are your kids. It's our job to keep them safe. If you see open outer doors, report that finding to the building principal. You are not being a horrible person. You may be saving someone's life.

 

[barkley]

i guess i'm the odd man out. i was actualy more concerned when the former school my kids attended instituted a lock down classroom policy. i understood the idea of doing it in times of need (if a security issue came up)-but my bigger concern was what would happen in the event of a fire or other situation that called for evacuation. i was surprised to learn that it was'nt against our local fire code for classrooms to lock the only doors they had-and questioned what happened if fire officials had to rescue kids. i was advised that admin had keys to all the rooms, but that was little comfort to me in the event that multiple rooms were ablaze in a corredored set up (so in actuality the kids were behind 2 locked doors). i just did'nt like the idea that a fireperson would have to get the keys to multiple doors from admin (and if that was on fire as well? ) before they could access the building/inhabitants.

as for locked fences around schools-well there can be a multitude of reasons as to why they don't exist. in some cases with older schools and houses that went up after the schools were built-some of those homes were built with a 'right of way' provision in the purchase contracts such that the homeowners can have access (gates) to the school yard but they have to keep them unlocked during school hours for access by safety personnel. as far as houses whose private fences combine to creat the schools enclosure-it may not be permissable for the school to force the owners to lock gates on their private property. this is one of the reasons that all of the new elementary schools built in our area are 'free standing'-none are built to back up to homes or 'open land' where houses can be built. in this way the schools can put in whatever types of fences and gates they desire-and put whatever (within fire code) locks/access on them they desire.

the school my kids go to does not lock doors nor does it have any type of fence around it. their assesment of danger is that for the most part the terrible tragedies in schools have occured due to internal dangers-so they would rather be able to get the kids out and away as well as allow police and other 'protective' personnel access to get in.