EDITORIAL: Shouldn’t we just do whatever will make children safe?

By Cherylanne Walters

I need to understand the perspective of others. It’s obvious that schools have changed drastically since the beginning of time. Even since I was in school the rules have changed. Changes to help protect the children. When I was younger, our teachers used to smoke on property right outside of their back doors. Our doors were never locked. You could just go right into the building without question. I never practiced a lock down because it was irrelevant to the times.

Now fast forward to this point in time. We’ve had multiple school shootings. If its a mental health crisis….ok! Gun problem….ok! Whatever the reasoning behind it, I am ok with acknowledging that we have a problem and people disagree on its cause. At this point in time I don’t give a crap what it is. I just know that we need to make changes in security to help protect our children. We aren’t going to make any progress in the other areas because it’s going to take years of digging and fixing from the core, but the immediate thing that we can do is increase security!

So if dress code is a problem, why not consider uniforms? After all this boy did wear a trench coat to school everyday. The same coat that he used to hide weapons that he killed his classmates with. If it’s clear bags for children to bring to school, why not? If it’s having an officer on property to help protect our children, why not? If it’s metal detectors, why not?

Our schools are obviously not safe. Times have changed from when we were children and we need to make some major corrections. At this point I am sure that most parents feel like its Russian roulette sending their children to school everyday. Why can’t we find effective ways to make our children safe and better yet, why are people fighting it?

I don’t want to see anyone’s child hurt. I picked up my children early from school on Friday and I was crying thinking of these families that will forever be changed. I never want to make that drive to school. I never want to make that drive for my children or yours. Can we finally come to an agreement that something needs to be done? I don’t want to hear about tax dollars and the lack of making things happen. It’s not even something that should be in question. I have to talk to my 7 year old about an active shooter in his classroom and I have to scare the living daylights out of him because this is a very real part of his life. This isn’t pretend and I can not understand the ignorance and lack of concern in some people.

So educate me and help me understand why our children should not be a top priority? Help me clarify why my 7 year old shouldn’t feel safe in school? Help me understand why scaring the living daylights out of my children daily and telling them to be aware of their surroundings is necessary. How can this be anymore scary than having a police officer or metal detectors in school buildings? Tell me why a clear bag of belongings should be a problem? In the great grand scheme of things, our children should be scared and they should demand change! It’s not fair to them!