There have been 90 school shooting incidents in 2023, equating to one incident per day, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. Unfortunately, the upward trend began in 2018, and parents have had enough.
According to the database, there were 119 incidents in 2018, more than double the previous year’s. In 2022, there were 303, the most ever. This school year is already proving to be just as difficult, and the world is turning its eyes to the issue. Monday’s tragedy at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee opened the eyes of district leaders around the country, prompting them to heighten security measures. It also sparked public debate over why there have yet to be major changes to gun control legislation.
“Why in God’s name do we allow these weapons of war on our streets and our schools,” said President Joe Biden on Tuesday. “I never thought when I started my public life that guns would be the No. 1 killer of children in America.”
In terms of school security, there are several approaches schools can take to ensure the safety of their students with training and preparation at the center. As for Tennessee parents, they value school resource officers more than anything. In contrast, just over one-third want to arm teachers.
According to a poll of more than 1,000 parents released earlier this month by the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy, the majority of parents support added security in their child’s school.
Here’s what they said would help them trust the safety of their schools:
- When there are one or more SROs in the school: 83.1%
- Routinely conducting active shooter drills: 71.2%
- Requiring background checks for the purchasing of all firearms: 70.5%
- Requiring students, staff and visitors to walk through a metal detector: 69.5%
- Restricting a person’s access to a gun through civil court orders if they pose a threat: 63.6%
- Requiring people by law to store guns at home: 60.7%
- Establishing a single point of entry at schools: 60.6%
- Banning guns on school property: 54.7%
- Raising the age requirement to buy a gun to 21: 53.7%
- Restricting the sale of high-capacity magazines: 50%
- Restricting the sale of bump stocks and conversion devices: 46.7%
- Arming teachers: 35.9%
“Incidents of gunfire on school grounds are increasing, raising understandable concern for Tennessee parents,” said Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital Pediatric Specialist Kelsey Gastineau in a statement. “This poll highlights that many Tennessee parents identify school-based violence as a priority and agree on practical, multifaceted solutions to address this issue.”
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Training, training and more training
While school administrators can do more to increase the physical security of their schools, it all comes down to ensuring students and staff are equipped with the knowledge to react to a threat. In a previous interview with District Administration, Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, said schools should limit efforts to harden their schools.
“The first and best line of defense is a well-trained and highly alert staff and student body,” said Trump. “The number-one way we find out about weapons, shooting plots and individuals who want to cause self-harm is from students who come forward and tell adults that they trust. Any security technology is only as strong as the weakest human link behind it.”
