Student Safety
Catherine Nwosu @CatherineNwosu
@CatherineNwosu
Let’s talk student safety. As an educator we begin every Teacher’s August Orientation with student safety trainings. We discuss what to do in the event of a “lock down” or “Building Mode”. Yes, in 2018 as schools we must have a plan for fire, medical, and active intruders. Monthly our students practice these drill alongside fire drills. For those that may not be familiar, a lock down drill is when there is an active threat inside our building. Each lock down drill we must lock the doors, cover the windows, and instruct students to hide and be silent. In the United States of America, this is now the norm to practice these emergency responses for student from rural to urban, from elementary to high.
With my parent hat on, there is no greater responsibility that a school can have than to keep my children safe. As scary as this conversation is, I am in support of anything that can be done to prevent school shootings. Personally, I have two young children and for me, it terrifies me that some of the solutions that have been proposed involve allowing educators to be armed. In my opinion this is not and should not be the answer. While educators are by and large wonderful, thoughtful, loving people, they cannot be asked to hold a firearm as well. What if a student got a hold of it. Or worse a teacher used it against a student for disciplinary reasons.
I’d like to share a few case studies from my personal experience with students and children that I have had a privilege to work with. All names have been changed to protect the students and their families. In Spring 2016 I was a PARCC (national standardized test) proctor for a group of 5th grade school students. I did not know these students well as I normally work with a different grade level. After building relationships for about 2 weeks with this group of students, I came in on a Monday and asked how everyone’s weekend was. The response was generic except for one of my female students we’ll call her Zora. She put her head down and was crying. She seemed genuinely upset. Without calling too much attention to her, I told her I wanted her to step out and process with a leader. After the PARCC we could chat if she wanted to. Zora left the room regrouped and came back.
After the test, she asked me is shrapnel could kill someone. She asked me this question very straight forward as if she wanted to know the color of the sky. I told her that I wasn’t positive but I was certain that it would likely cause injury but not kill. Zora then proceeded to tell me that her Dad was caught in a drive by over the weekend. While she wasn’t directly told, she knew because she overheard her mother speaking about it on the phone. Zora was concerned because she wasn’t supposed to know and she hasn’t had the opportunity to talk to him and wasn’t sure how he was. While this child’s story will not end up on national news, I believe it is important to bring into this conversation because gun violence doesn’t just impact children when they are inside the school building. It also doesn’t just impact children when they are directly involved, it impacts them when it involves an adult that they care about.
I would urge legislators to engage children on this issue and ask them what would make them feel safer both inside and outside of school. I am confident that these children have answers that are logical and wise beyond their years. After the National March for our Lives demonstration in Washington, DC in March of 2018 the Kojo Namdi show hosted a town hall around gun violence in Washington, DC to discuss this issue with youth. Students and community leaders were invited to attend. I also attended this event which was later broadcast on the radio. During this event, we discussed the real life impact that children in urban settings navigate when it comes to gun violence and safety. One African American 10th grader we’ll call him “Andrew” shared his story with us. Andrew shared that he had to catch multiple buses to get to school on time. It was dark in the morning when he left for school and dark in the evening when he came home. Andrew had to travel alone to and from school and once he was robbed and held at gun point. Andrew complied and gave the person his wallet and phone. While Andrew walked away physically unharmed, he lost his ability to feel safe in his travels to school. After speaking with his family, they agreed that he should carry a knife on him as protection, just in case as he is coming and going to school. The High School that Andrew attends has a zero-tolerance policy for weapons and it also has metal detectors. The first time he had the knife, he had it confiscated and there was a mandatory parent meeting. Unfortunately, there was no solution proposed for how to keep Andrew safe on his commute to and from school. Andrew’s parents gave him their blessing to continue to carry a knife for protection. He then got suspended for his subsequent self-carry.
In that same town hall, students were asked to stand if they know someone or if they personally have been affected by gun violence. Nearly every young person in attendance was standing in a room of about 40 teenagers. Students were then asked to stand if they have lost a close friend or family member to gun violence, about 60% of the students in attendance were standing. This is heart-breaking. There hasn’t been a school shooting in Washington, DC in recent memory. That leaves me with the question “Why is our focus on preventing school shooting?”; Shouldn’t the question be “How can we lessen out of school shootings and violence?” or “How can we support young people who are facing these challenges?”
When we think about education policy, we must involve all stakeholders to have a seat at the table. Otherwise, we may be trying to solve the wrong problem. Perhaps the problem isn’t gun violence in school perhaps the problem is much larger than that and encompasses both school and community prevention. Perhaps the most important voices missing from this conversation on school safety on a national level is our young people and in particular our urban young people. Until legislators who make decisions for the United States of America represent people from all walks of life, our young people in urban America will not have an appropriate voice in this conversation about gun violence as it relates to schools and their communities.
We should have no greater goal than student safety especially if you are an educator, a parent, or a legislator. After all, if a child isn’t safe, they cannot show up and learn. They cannot interact with adults or their peers in a way that they are able to thrive. We should also think about the impact that our policies have on students like Andrew. How can we all come to the table to solve the issues of safety inside and outside of our schools? I believe we can do it together but we still have long way as it pertains to equality in education and inclusion of the urban student experience. Our children are hurting, they are crying out for help across all walks of life, all age groups, and all demographics. If we don’t listen we are missing key opportunities to support. Gun violence and school shootings have a lot of intersectionality and it’s about time we become intentional at looking for that intersectionality.
If you’d like to connect with me, you can email me at [email protected] Or you can find me on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinenwosu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherine.nwosu Twitter: https://twitter.com/catherinenwosu
Source:
https://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2018-03-22/our-d-c-lives-how-does-gun-violence-affect-local-
students
With my parent hat on, there is no greater responsibility that a school can have than to keep my children safe. As scary as this conversation is, I am in support of anything that can be done to prevent school shootings. Personally, I have two young children and for me, it terrifies me that some of the solutions that have been proposed involve allowing educators to be armed. In my opinion this is not and should not be the answer. While educators are by and large wonderful, thoughtful, loving people, they cannot be asked to hold a firearm as well. What if a student got a hold of it. Or worse a teacher used it against a student for disciplinary reasons.
I’d like to share a few case studies from my personal experience with students and children that I have had a privilege to work with. All names have been changed to protect the students and their families. In Spring 2016 I was a PARCC (national standardized test) proctor for a group of 5th grade school students. I did not know these students well as I normally work with a different grade level. After building relationships for about 2 weeks with this group of students, I came in on a Monday and asked how everyone’s weekend was. The response was generic except for one of my female students we’ll call her Zora. She put her head down and was crying. She seemed genuinely upset. Without calling too much attention to her, I told her I wanted her to step out and process with a leader. After the PARCC we could chat if she wanted to. Zora left the room regrouped and came back.
After the test, she asked me is shrapnel could kill someone. She asked me this question very straight forward as if she wanted to know the color of the sky. I told her that I wasn’t positive but I was certain that it would likely cause injury but not kill. Zora then proceeded to tell me that her Dad was caught in a drive by over the weekend. While she wasn’t directly told, she knew because she overheard her mother speaking about it on the phone. Zora was concerned because she wasn’t supposed to know and she hasn’t had the opportunity to talk to him and wasn’t sure how he was. While this child’s story will not end up on national news, I believe it is important to bring into this conversation because gun violence doesn’t just impact children when they are inside the school building. It also doesn’t just impact children when they are directly involved, it impacts them when it involves an adult that they care about.
I would urge legislators to engage children on this issue and ask them what would make them feel safer both inside and outside of school. I am confident that these children have answers that are logical and wise beyond their years. After the National March for our Lives demonstration in Washington, DC in March of 2018 the Kojo Namdi show hosted a town hall around gun violence in Washington, DC to discuss this issue with youth. Students and community leaders were invited to attend. I also attended this event which was later broadcast on the radio. During this event, we discussed the real life impact that children in urban settings navigate when it comes to gun violence and safety. One African American 10th grader we’ll call him “Andrew” shared his story with us. Andrew shared that he had to catch multiple buses to get to school on time. It was dark in the morning when he left for school and dark in the evening when he came home. Andrew had to travel alone to and from school and once he was robbed and held at gun point. Andrew complied and gave the person his wallet and phone. While Andrew walked away physically unharmed, he lost his ability to feel safe in his travels to school. After speaking with his family, they agreed that he should carry a knife on him as protection, just in case as he is coming and going to school. The High School that Andrew attends has a zero-tolerance policy for weapons and it also has metal detectors. The first time he had the knife, he had it confiscated and there was a mandatory parent meeting. Unfortunately, there was no solution proposed for how to keep Andrew safe on his commute to and from school. Andrew’s parents gave him their blessing to continue to carry a knife for protection. He then got suspended for his subsequent self-carry.
In that same town hall, students were asked to stand if they know someone or if they personally have been affected by gun violence. Nearly every young person in attendance was standing in a room of about 40 teenagers. Students were then asked to stand if they have lost a close friend or family member to gun violence, about 60% of the students in attendance were standing. This is heart-breaking. There hasn’t been a school shooting in Washington, DC in recent memory. That leaves me with the question “Why is our focus on preventing school shooting?”; Shouldn’t the question be “How can we lessen out of school shootings and violence?” or “How can we support young people who are facing these challenges?”
When we think about education policy, we must involve all stakeholders to have a seat at the table. Otherwise, we may be trying to solve the wrong problem. Perhaps the problem isn’t gun violence in school perhaps the problem is much larger than that and encompasses both school and community prevention. Perhaps the most important voices missing from this conversation on school safety on a national level is our young people and in particular our urban young people. Until legislators who make decisions for the United States of America represent people from all walks of life, our young people in urban America will not have an appropriate voice in this conversation about gun violence as it relates to schools and their communities.
We should have no greater goal than student safety especially if you are an educator, a parent, or a legislator. After all, if a child isn’t safe, they cannot show up and learn. They cannot interact with adults or their peers in a way that they are able to thrive. We should also think about the impact that our policies have on students like Andrew. How can we all come to the table to solve the issues of safety inside and outside of our schools? I believe we can do it together but we still have long way as it pertains to equality in education and inclusion of the urban student experience. Our children are hurting, they are crying out for help across all walks of life, all age groups, and all demographics. If we don’t listen we are missing key opportunities to support. Gun violence and school shootings have a lot of intersectionality and it’s about time we become intentional at looking for that intersectionality.
If you’d like to connect with me, you can email me at [email protected] Or you can find me on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinenwosu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherine.nwosu Twitter: https://twitter.com/catherinenwosu
Source:
https://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2018-03-22/our-d-c-lives-how-does-gun-violence-affect-local-
students