Show e. 1 x n f r f B 1 r yr y r r l r a aLos Los Angeles Times p photo hoto by Francine Orr f t L L I I a i Y M The Baltimore Sun photo by Christopher 1 1 Asa s1 A I I Above Flags fly flyat flyat flyat at staff half-staff on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg Va following Mondays Monday's deadly shooting At the order of US U.S. President George W. W V. V Bush flags across the country are to tobe tobe tobe be lowered to staff half-staff in of the victims of the most deadly shooting in the nations nation's history News outlets from around the world can also be seen covering the events Left A sign on the doors of the Squires student center on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Va r ft ci J Making schools places of safety safety- and learning Margaret Webb The Washington Post You probably feel safest at home and at school That makes sense they are two of the safest places you can be Sometimes though the stories in the news make it seem like schools can be dangerous When people get shot at a school school as as happened this week at Virginia Tech university university its its it's big news That's because shootings at schools as horrifying as they are are really rare These shootings also get a lot of attention because everyone kids and ups grown-ups wants schools to be safe places Monday in reaction to the deaths President Bush said Schools should be places of safety sanctuary and learning leaming In fact they are becoming even more so experts say The series of school shootings that have occurred over the past decade have really made schools safer and I think kids can be reassured by that said Edwin Gerler GerIer a professor at North Carolina State University Gerler GerIer teaches people to be counselors and andis is editor of the Journal of School Violence Schools didn't used to have locked doors IDs for teachers and security procedures to keep track of students Today many schools also have surveillance cameras a process for visitors to be identified and even metal k t. t J 3 i M 1 1 H 1 ij detectors Its It's harder to enforce such systems at a sprawling campus such as Virginia Tech or even at some big high schools But most elementary and arid middle schools are easier to secure Gerler said Its It's also not unusual for kids to have drills during class Students practice what to todo todo todo do if teachers or principals decide there is a threat to the students from someone inside the school The teacher locks the thedoor thedoor thedoor door and closes the shades on the windows and we go goto goto goto to the back of the classroom where nobody can see us We cant can't let anybody in and we have to be really quiet said Lucy Rieck 10 a grader fifth-grader at Bonnie Brae Elementary School in Fairfax Va Its It's helpful not scary she said because if ifa a weird person walks into the building with a gun then we know what to do Lucy and her classmates also have been told to tell teU a parent or teacher if another student talks about doing something harmful at school Its It's hard to understand why anyone would want to shoot people especially kids Sometimes another student might be having havinga a hard time and think that fight fighting ng or hurting p people ople will fix the problem This was the case at Colorados Colorado's Columbine H High gh School the Safety Continued on page 3 1 t r f J 1 School Safety Continued from page 1 site of a shooting in 1999 Anyone who wants to commit violence is most likely to choose a target thatis that thatis is vulnerable Gerler said Gunmen have hit schools in Scotland China and elsewhere In a town called in Russia a school was targeted by terrorists ten The snipers who shot at strangers in the Washington area in 2002 injured a boy boyat at a Maryland school What kids need to remember though is there are thousands of schools in this country and at most of them nothing violent will ever happen So you dont don't need to be afraid when you go to school you just need to know what to todo todo todo do if something bad does happen |