Security guards in schools. What do you think about it?

Radrook said:
You are very fortunate. They had security guards in my son's school and ultimately had to bring in the police. I was forced school him at home to prevent him, from getting murdered. He would ask the kids why they were attending school if they weren't interested in studying and they would proudly respond with: "I come to school to fight!!"

Wen I visited Principle's office, it was full of kids with belligerently smug defiant faces sitting waiting to be processed for misbehavior and police were cars parked outside the school entrance due to a recent serious altercation. Worse than a prison or even an insane asylum, since in those places, the weirdoes are under control while in these schools they run rampant in the hallways, in the restrooms, and even in the classrooms themselves. This has resulted in maiming and even in deaths.

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I'd rather my tax dollars go to school restructuring than school guards.

Fundamentally, US schools haven't changed since the 1800s. They are not serving millennial kids.

Not long ago, Bill Gates made a deal with California - He opened some experimental high-schools, and I think he created 3 types; academic, technological, and blue-collar skills (sciences might have been a 4th one). Students chose which type of school they wanted to attend. They could change schools if they wanted, but they had to do it no later than the end of their second year (these were 4-year high-schools, as usual). The deal was, if the schools were successful, the state would change all state schools using his model.

The "Gates" students were wildly successful. Grades and attendance were well above the national average, the drop-out rate was extremely low, and way more of them went on to college compared to students from conventional high-schools.

But Calif didn't keep their promise. They broke the deal. Our schools didn't change, and I'm pretty sure Calif has the worst numbers in the nation for academic scores, attendance and drop-out rates, literacy, and kids going on to college.
 

Murrmurr said:
Making guns illegal won't stop smugglers from bringing them into the US, it will increase the smuggling of illegal guns.

Again, the problem isn't guns. The 2 main reasons for school shootings is irresponsible gun-owning parents who don't store them properly, and the US's inadequate (even incompetent) mental health system.

Most school shooters are young kids. Making them "famous" on TV and in online news reports doesn't help, but idk what will solve that.
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Was the mental health system really any better in the 50's? Could TV and movies be part of the cause? The violence is pretty graphic and there's a lot of it.
 
Murrmurr said:
I'd rather my tax dollars go to school restructuring than school guards.

Fundamentally, US schools haven't changed since the 1800s. They are not serving millennial kids.

Not long ago, Bill Gates made a deal with California - He opened some experimental high-schools, and I think he created 3 types; academic, technological, and blue-collar skills (sciences might have been a 4th one). Students chose which type of school they wanted to attend. They could change schools if they wanted, but they had to do it no later than the end of their second year (these were 4-year high-schools, as usual). The deal was, if the schools were successful, the state would change all state schools using his model.

The "Gates" students were wildly successful. Grades and attendance were well above the national average, the drop-out rate was extremely low, and way more of them went on to college compared to students from conventional high-schools.

But Calif didn't keep their promise. They broke the deal. Our schools didn't change, and I'm pretty sure Calif has the worst numbers in the nation for academic scores, attendance and drop-out rates, literacy, and kids going on to college.
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What exactly was changed that stopped the kids from savaging each other and their teachers?
 

Grampa Don said:
Was the mental health system really any better in the 50's? Could TV and movies be part of the cause? The violence is pretty graphic and there's a lot of it.
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It was, actually, but doctors in the field of psychiatry didn't know then what they do now, and some of their methods did more harm than good. Lobotomy is one major example.

The same can be said of recent pharmaceutical treatments. A lot of psych drugs do more harm than good. But the US doesn't fund as much mental health research as it used to. Taking past and current dollar-value into account, the US spent far more on mental health research in the 50s than it does now.

Today's legislators/government officials don't seem interested in supporting comprehensive mental health research and treatment with tax dollars.
 
In this area we have had school resource officers in the public schools for several years.

Some schools, including elementary schools, have airport style scanners at the entrance.

I think back to the 70s when I was in school, the doors were never locked and people could enter or exit without concern or alarm.

IMO it’s an expensive overreaction in many cases but if they are withdrawn and something happens there would be a huge outrage.

Chalk one up for the bogeyman!
 
It's not Ding Dong School anymore. It ain't 1950. Alongside of learning your ABCs, a kid needs to know what to do when there's an "active shooter" in the school. At any time, what happened in your first grade coloring class could be the lead story on CNN.
There's all kinds of people and policies you can blame for this. But for some, it's become ingrained. Ding_Dong_School_Miss_Frances_1953.jpg
 
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StarSong said:
I'm betting Germany doesn't worry about mass knife attacks killing classrooms of five and six year olds plus teachers and admins.

Nothing completely solves the problem of human violence, but sad to say the US is a real-life example that a population armed to the teeth will worsen it.
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I agree with you. Too many guns, and those guns are too deadly. I'm for an outright ban on everything except revolvers, bolt-action rifles and shotguns. And I think ownership of those weapons should be limited to those with licenses who have passed rigorous training, exams and background checks. The Founders couldn't have envisioned the AR-15 or the Glock; we have to deal with reality.
 
Security guards in schools. What do you think about it?
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Sadly, conditions in our society are making heightened security a necessity. Courthouses have tight security, I believe schools should have "someone" monitoring the entry of persons to the school grounds. Keep gates shut and locked, have visitors pass through one entrance where a security professional can screen person and possessions coming in.
 
Warrigal said:
When I was teaching 30+ years ago, and when my children were of school age, school grounds were never locked. It was possible to wander around on weekends or walk your dog on the school oval.

Then there was a rash of school breakins and vandalism that necessitated expensive repairs. It got so bad that the schools began to be enclosed with sturdy and high lockable fences. Today, while the children are in class or out on the playground any visitors must buzz the office to open the gate. Vandalism and arson are unheard of today.

Unfortunately Jewish schools and their students have become targets of hate attacks. These schools are protected by armed guards.

I cannot remember any instance of a school shooting. I do remember one instance where a female teacher and six (seven?) girls were kidnapped for ransom of $1,000,000. Their ages ranged from six to eleven. It was a one teacher school in rural Victoria.

Story here: In 1972, six students and their teacher were abducted from their Victorian classroom.
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Warrigal, to what do you attribute the decay in the past 30 years?
 
Schools are HUGE! All a shooter would need to do is know where the security guard is and then carry out the shooting on the other side of the building. Or the shooter could just shoot the guard and then proceed with the shooting.

Security guards generally don't get paid very much. I doubt too many of them are willing to give up their lives for their job unless it was to save their own life.

There are mass shootings on a regular basis in America with handguns where a few people might get injured but there are few casualties. This is usually related to gangs.

When mass shootings are mass murders, the weapon is almost always an AR-15 style rifle. They are extremely effective killing machines. Screening students on entry to the school would make it harder to get a rifle into the building, but they could find a way, such as through an open window. Or they could just bust out a window and enter the building that way.

We could cut down on the number of gun related deaths by banning AR-15 style rifles, but that's not going to happen any time soon. Other than that, there's really not a whole lot that can be done.
 
The bad guy always has the advantage of choosing the time and the place.

If schools become hard targets, the bad guy will hijack a school bus full of kids or plan an attack on an athletic field.

If schools become too difficult they will turn to other places where people gather.

We need to learn and teach our children how to assess risk, react, and protect themselves in everyday situations.
 
Aunt Bea said:
The bad guy always has the advantage of choosing the time and the place.

If schools become hard targets, the bad guy will hijack a school bus full of kids or plan an attack on an athletic field.

If schools become too difficult they will turn to other places where people gather.

We need to learn and teach our children how to assess risk, react, and protect themselves in everyday situations.
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The kids themselves are their own worse enemies.
 
Right now and during these times, it’s not a bad idea, although I can understand why some may consider it an invasion of privacy. I never served as an in school RO, or Resource Officer, but I do know a few police officers that do that job on a rotation basis with other Officers.
 
Jocko said:
I’d include The National Guard making the rounds.
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As long as the national guard doesn't attempt to deprive any of the students of their I phones, they will be safe.
 

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