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Would it be a good idea to …
… re-evaluate our approach to safety in schools, with an emphasis on revamping building codes?
The notion was spurred by retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. David Grossman’s opening comments at a school safety conference earlier this month in Plains Township, as reported in the Times Leader.
Grossman made strong points when he urged the public at large and news media in particular to stop referring to mass murderers who enter our schools to wreak mayhem as “active shooters. “Words have power,” he said.
No disagreement here.
Another contention – that relentless publicity of the perpetrators only serves to motivate more of the same – deserves discussion, but the question has merit: Would fewer people go on mass killing sprees if they had scant hope of grabbing national attention after the fact?
But it was Grossman’s comparison of school deaths by fire versus by violence that seemed – literally and figuratively – the most concrete opportunity for action. He noted that no children died from school fires in the last five decades, and rattled off the safeguards responsible.
When building schools, we take it for granted that construction will include fireproof and fire-retardant materials, automatic alarms and sprinklers, doors that lock people out but not in, and multiple escape routes, in case all those other measures fail.
Such features “easily double the cost of construction” of our schools, Grossman argued.
Is it time to mandate similar physical measures intended to prevent mass killings?
Are we talking metal detectors that can’t be bypassed, even by staff? Don’t look too close the next time you go into a school with a detector; you are apt to see many people waved through by a harried security greeter who is struggling to keep up with the volume of those pressing that “let me in” buzzer all day.
Or perhaps we should consider bullet-proof, or at least shatter-resistant, glass on all doors and windows. It is arguable that we spend more money in construction to protect children against earthquakes – as rare as they are around here – than we do to protect them against projectiles, be it bullet or brick.
Surely it would pay to require installation and annual upkeep of a system that warns administrators and security staff when a door is left ajar. Take a walk around the school nearest you and see how often all the security features at the front door can be bypassed due to someone carelessly propping open a door to, say, a gym or kitchen.
Give us your feedback about school safety by sending a letter to the editor or posting comments to this editorial at timesleader.com.
Likewise, tell us your ideas for improving the community and making area residents’ lives better. Maybe we’ll spotlight your suggestion in a future editorial and ask readers, “Would it be a good idea to …”