School Safety

Everyday students are leaving school and getting hurt, outsiders are coming into schools and hurting students, insiders such as students and staff have also been known to hurt our school-age children and there is nothing being done about it. School is not optional; it is required by law for every child to go to school, so school should not be feared by the students it should be a safe learning environment. "More U.S. high school students are skipping class because they feel unsafe even though the general level of violence in schools has fallen since the early 1990s, federal health officials reported" (Siamo 1). Being that school safety is currently a big issue some things that need to be addressed are, what safety measures are being taken, what could be done to prevent this, and whose fault is it if students are harmed?

Are there any safety measures being taken? Most high schools in America really are not that safe. They are just public schools where students come and go but, nothing is really ever done to them. But what happens when a student leaves and gets hurt, would that student be punished , would the parent be allowed to sue the school? A student asks to go to the bathroom and an outsider comes into the school and sneaks into the bathroom and rapes the student? What happens then? It appears to me that there really are not that many precautions being taken at all. More and more students are going to be home schooled, studies show that the "number of home schooled students due to violence rose from1.7 percent in 1999 to 2.2 percent in 2003" (NHESP 1). We must do more to make our schools safer.

What can be done to improve the safety in our schools? Well first of all, a secured fence could be used to keep people who do not belong in the school out and the ones who need to be there, in. Also ID cards are a good way to keep track of students who are at school or not "this system can help create a more disciplined and safe environment for all students" (Mitchell 1). Cameras and metal detectors are also a very good idea when trying to keep students safe. Metal detectors can keep things like guns and knives

out and cameras can keep a close watch on all students at all times. Also, all schools should make sure to do an extensive background check on all staff to make sure they do not hire anyone who has a record. Most states already do but some do not. For example, if a teacher is a sexual predator and the school does a background check then it would reveal