Safer Schools for Students and Staff, Part II

A police officer once told me, “You can’t stop crazy.”  Unfortunately, mentally ill people permeate our society and are increasingly putting students and school staff members at risk.  The name Laurie Dann immediately comes to mind.  Laurie murdered one boy and wounded two girls at Hubbard Woods Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois in 1957. Schools are no longer guaranteed safe havens and security protocols must must be instituted. Vigilance must always remain high.

There is no magic bullet in achieving school security.  Security is achieved in layers:  the more layers you have the more effective security becomes. Some school administrators slap Gun-Free Zone stickers on entrance doors and call it a day.  I would fire all of those lazy administrators. Someone has to be passionate about protecting kids and staff members from evil predators who roam the country searching for innocent victims.

There were 7 layers of security that I implemented at my Chicago suburban high school by 2000. That was 22 years ago but apparently, some educators today forgot the  harsh lessons learned from horrific school massacres in America.