After the recent school shootings, it’s easy to become fearful of the lack of security in our everyday lives. In school, for example, procedures are made for safety, but their effectiveness isn’t always executed as intended. The question arises about FASD and what can be done to better protect the people in these schools.

“How do we protect our children, faculty and staff and community? Metal detectors and bag checks are always something people think about and those could be part of updated security but I believe security is just part of it,” Guidance Counselor Barb Martz said.

At Southwestern High School in Indiana, the classroom doors are bullet-resistant, students are trained to set up desks as a wall, hold a textbook in front of their face to protect themselves and the Sheriff’s department located only 10 miles away, can track an intruder as he/she moves throughout the school with the cameras placed in various locations.

Southwestern also has built in smoke bombs. These can be set off to fill the area the shooter is located in with harmless smoke, in order to blind the shooter and prevent them from seeing.

Although it may be hard to come up with a perfect solution on how to protect those in the building, there are some precautions that can be taken.

According to STANLEY Convergent Security Solutions, Inc., they have secured over 10,000 schools and educational institutions. In their mission statement, they showed the importance of education.

“Working together, we can protect students, employees and facilities, so schools can focus on what’s really important — education,” STANLEY said.

The truth is that a mass shooting can occur at any point in time. It doesn’t have to be in a school, it could be a movie theater, concert or night club, as seen before. When students come to school each day in order to get an education, they should not have to worry about whether they will make it through the day. Parents should not have to wonder if their child will ever make it home safe. There is a gun violence issue and to ignore the problem, will solve nothing in the end.

“The biggest thing is making sure we have a secure facility. This is through locked doors, knowing whose coming through the doors, and where they are coming from is the first and biggest piece,” Principal William Deal said. “We also have security monitors placed throughout and we had a massive security system upgrade this year which is farther ahead than last year. If something were to happen here at the high school, other people in the community would know.”

Junior Ethan Paxton feels that action needs to be taken. He thinks that better preparing student’s through drills can be beneficial and that mental health plays a role in these tragedies.

“I think mental health is something that people should look into because you don’t know what that person is going through. They can seem alright on the outside but they could be fighting something on the inside (such as depression, suicide and others),” Paxton said, “Everyone has something that they are going through in their lives, some just hide it better than others.”

The lack of security in schools around the country can lead to potential disasters. FASD  can secure the safety of hundreds in the future, while taking simple precautions to protect the people inside the school district.