What To Do About Gun Violence at Schools
The Seattle Times had a recent story about gun violence at schools that had some decent suggestions and a few choice quotes.
Here’s one quote:
Alyssa Marsh, a Central District parent whose son is assigned to attend Garfield next year, reached behind her sunglasses to wipe tears from her eyes as she spoke Friday morning. She carried a handwritten black and white sign under her arm that read, “Don’t let my child be next!”
“I came out here purely from emotion and heart,” she said. “I’m tired of gun violence in my community.”
I think every parent can agree with her feeling of wanting to protect their child AND the feeling of helplessness.
City and school leaders have struggled to wrap their arms around the problem for years. Most shootings happen outside of school buildings, beyond the reach of most school security protocols. Like any kind of crime, school violence often involves complex social factors — poverty, lack of social connection, inability to resolve personal conflicts.
“It’s really a challenge and stressful for the school admin, and they can’t follow every kid home,” said Ken Trump, a school security expert who once oversaw youth gang violence prevention in Cleveland public schools.
Also:
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent Jones both pledged increased safety measures.
I’m pretty sure they both said this after the Ingraham High School shooting but what has changed? And what is the state for spending for that $20M from the City to invest in more counselors?
Lastly on quotes, here’s the Superintendent:
When we lose one of our beloved students, it shakes us as leaders to the core, and we are willing to do whatever we can to provide support during this time of grieving.
Where the heck is anything from the Seattle School Board? Is this part of SFOG, only the superintendent can speak?
Safety ideas from the story
- if police officers are brought in, make sure there are women officers and/or officers of color.
- more fencing
- no more leaving campus for lunch
- and the ever-popular “reviewing security plans”
The article also states that there will be more of a police presence around GHS in the days to come, including at prom and graduation.
On Friday, executive board members of the Seattle Student Union issued a statement saying that they “denounce any call to reintroduce police to our schools after Black students and allies worked tirelessly in 2020 to successfully demand their removal.”
Comments
The Student Union statement only confirms the dumbing down of the schools in general. Students feel they can make statements that they feel should be true, with no requirement that they actually be true. No effort is required to investigate the outside world to determine if a statement is true before taking a public stand.
Can we finally admit that we needs more of a police presence AND mental health services? Can we stop with the hand-wringing? Can we stop being held hostage by interest groups on the left (never cops, only counselors) and the right (all the cops, metal detectors, clear backpacks)? Can we stop with it being either/or? Can we believe in nuance?
South Seattle Teacher
Dr. Hart did send out notice last night that the school will have closed-campus lunches for the rest of the school year. Thankfully that's only 8 days, because it's a bummer for the kids who like to walk over to Amazon Fresh or just be outside. And if there are so many weapons in school already, does it really keep the kids safer?
I really don't think anything systemically can improve as long as gun laws are what they are. It stinks.
-Garfield Mom
Also, most school shootings are motivated by personal disputes rather than a pathological desire to kill. This incident falls under that personal dispute category. From my understanding, perpetrators in that personal dispute category do not need therapy so much as they need adult guidance, such as from violence intervention programs.
In any case, the best way to prevent school shootings (whatever the motivation) appears to be threat assessment. There are always warning signs - for example, students may make threats, or they may simply brag to their friends about their illegal gun. SPS website says they have a threat assessment program. Whenever this happens, I wonder whether the shooter was flagged by the schools threat assessment system as a risk for violence. If they were, what action was or was not taken? If not, what was missed?
They believe in the causes because their parents raised them to believe. In this, they are the same as kids who are raised to evangelize for a religion.
You'll notice that social workers and counselors pay dues to SEA/WEA/NEA. SRO's do not. The students are advocating for standard Democrat agenda items that boost their political cash.
The SSU is a political tool, used by city's bourgeois limousine leftists to add the perceived legitimacy of the voice of the youth to their governance and power.
They a larpers and should be taken as seriously.
SP
Unless there is a lawsuit, it's unlikely we will ever know the answer to these questions.
Anonymous, next time, give a name/moniker. The Seattle STudent Union is a group of students who came together to give input on what they see in SPS. I have no idea how many kids are in it; the founders seemed a good group.
Northender, that is troubling news from RHS. I have always advocated for parents to talk to their kids about interactions with cops AND how being 18 changes a lot legally.
"The Seattle Student Union is mostly HCC, AP, IB type students who will use the role to burnish their college applications. They're the same type of students who carry signs for TCG."
First sentence, false. Not the founders for sure. But the second sentence, very likely true.
"The SSU is a political tool, used by city's bourgeois limousine leftists to add the perceived legitimacy of the voice of the youth to their governance and power."
Nope because many of the adults pushing this group are not "limousine" leftists; they are uber progressives who tend to be willingly blind to outcomes from their push.
All of the "student voice" seems a mockery because the Board rarely listens the the student board members they were so in a rush to seat. A couple of the student directors even complained about not being listened to.
I do believe there needs to be a serious discussion about what students perceive at their school in terms of safety and how to make students feel safe.
The Uber progressives in my corner of the city also live in the city's most expensive zip codes. The now progressive they are, t the closet to the water they live. The less progressive kids live in apartments next to the bus lines. The correlation is clear.
SP