I’ve read through a lot of these posts and am very sad. Our country is becoming more divided by the day. Not that the previous administration did much better on this subject. But, this is slowly bringing our republic back by hundreds of years!
I’m so saddened at what has happened over the years...it started with Columbine. One of those events that you’ll always remember where you were, when it happened. It was a break from school & we were on our way up to NYC to take our children to the Museum of Natural History. One of our most favourite places in the world; to this day. We heard it on the radio in the car & the info was minimal at that time of day. We didn’t realize how that day; a fun family day~would be the beginning of home grown terrorism & insanity.
All these years later, I can remember that even back then, we had SRO’s in our schools. There was an unfortunate but, reckoning mix up with two kids being picked up by a parent that did not have custody of them but, was known to the faculty. I was on the school board & we had exhaustive meetings both public & private as to how to address that problem & many similar scenarios.
What we finally came up with was that all doors in the school would be locked from outside in after the morning bell & except for playground time, they’d stay locked. We also started an “I’m buzzed in” policy at the front door. I was a home room mum x 3 children and, was up at the school every day. Even though we all knew each other back then, I still had to ring the main office door, state my name, and a teachers aid would let me in. And, even though I knew all the teachers & most of the students; I wore a badge that said “I’m buzzed in!”
Small inconvenience, a small price to pay for our children’s safety.
We also turned to our township police & the mayor for help. That’s how we ended up with SRO’S. There were many meetings again, public & private. And, after a few months we had SRO‘S in every school & more than one depending on the size of the school & age of students. They were for the most part, either retired or close to it as to not put a burden on our police force.
The kids from K-6 & up were used to police in the schools for pedestrian & side walk, store & stranger safety. Also to DARE & even Driver Safery in the high school.
The children thought nothing of it at all. And, our SRO’S were great. They’d eat lunch with the students at times & on their own time come to plays, choir, talent shoes, etc. They were a part of the educative community and VERY protective of “ their” kids.
It broke my heart to know there were SRO’S at Parkland & especially one, the one closest to the shooter was a coward! How many lives could’ve been saved or forever changed if only the officer did his job!
God Bless the brave students who finally started a true movement that is spreading more each day! They are brave more than some and, definitely more than some of those sworn to protect them.
Do I believe in the reformation of current gun laws & the many loopholes? Most definitely! Such as handing a firearm down within a family and, then the gun shows~where anyone could walk in with a pile of cash & walk out with a semi-automatic with nothing more than a photo ID, if that!
As a mum & now a blessed first time Gran, I would like my grandchildren to be as safe in kindergarten as their parents were. We may live in a different world now...but, the safety of our children and everyone else has got to be paramount for all of us as a society to address!God Bless you all for this spirited discussion! This is how things begin to change!
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