BY BRODY REXING<\/p>\n
F.J. Reitz High School<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It seems shocking to Americans that shootings and the practice of preparing for \u201cactive shooters\u201d has become so widespread so fast. The issue becomes pressing when, according to CNN, there have been 23 shootings in 2018 alone.<\/p>\n
No one in Benton, Kentucky, knew that their high school would be the site of the year\u2019s first deadly school shooting.<\/p>\n
Marshall County High School was no different than any other high school. MCHS is a small-town school with small-town charm. Fewer than 2,000 people are enrolled, and it\u2019s the type of school where everybody knows everyone.<\/p>\n
Before the turn of the century, a discussion of school shootings was rarer than a shooting itself. In a study from digital media company Ranker, 16 shootings had occurred in America before the Columbine Massacre. But since the 1999 shooting, there have been over 200, according to a news article in the Denver Westword.<\/p>\n
How do schools address this issue? How do administrators identify killers disguised as students? How do teachers teach their students not to become another statistic?<\/p>\n
The Marshall County School District implemented a backpack ban for its two middle schools and two high schools, following the Jan. 23 shooting at Marshall County High that claimed the lives of two 15-year-old students and injured 16 others. The ban will go into effect this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese decisions were not made lightly; they are the result of many months of careful deliberation, expert advice, and frank discussion,\u201d Superintendent Trent Lovett said in a press release regarding the new policy.<\/p>\n
Lovett also identified mental health as a key issue. \u201cWe have added mental health counselors at all of our schools,\u201d Lovett said. \u201cWe hope with this addition, we will be able to detect mental health issues at a very early age.\u201d<\/p>\n
MCHS student Lily Dunn created two Change.org petitions following the shooting. The latter was a direct response to the district\u2019s new backpack policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile some changes are welcome,\u201d Dunn said in the petition description, \u201cothers are an invasion of privacy and unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunn, like her peers, believes the ban of backpacks will hinder her learning experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking away our backpacks is not only extremely inconvenient for many students who have to go from building to building, but it\u2019s also taking away what little privacy we are allowed to have during the school day,\u201d Dunn said in the petition.<\/p>\n
Lovett was unaware of the petition but said there was no easy method for processing students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at the high school every day from Jan. 23 until the end of the school year, checking bags and wanding students\u201d with a handheld metal detector, Lovett said in an interview. \u201cThe manpower it takes to check bags and wand students was OK to finish out the year; however, to sustain this for a lengthy amount of time would be very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parents from districts, and states other than Dunn\u2019s, disagree with Lovett\u2019s \u201cno backpack\u201d rule as well. Ana Rodriguez is one of them. Rodriguez has sent her children through the Sumner County school system in Gallatin, Tennessee, which was itself home to gun issues when a student brought a handgun to Gallatin High School in April 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like they\u2019re taking it too far,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cIt\u2019s not really a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez, like Lovett, believes school districts should focus on mental health above everything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a parent, once I know a child is isolating themselves, an alarm goes off,\u201d she said. \u201cSome parents don\u2019t care or pay any attention, and they don\u2019t know exactly what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendra Glenn, a third grade teacher at Sharpe Elementary School in Marshall County, said her meetings with Lovett are productive, concerning a topic which many teachers have trouble contemplating.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuperintendent Lovett is very open,\u201d Glenn said, \u201clistening to all ideas and concerns that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glenn taught Bailey Holt and Preston Cope in the fourth grade, both of whom lost their lives during the Marshall County shooting. While Glenn\u2019s teaching may have not been affected much by the shootings going on in the nation, it cut deeply into her personal life and outlook.<\/p>\n
After the MCHS shooting, \u201cit made me really appreciate my family and my classes,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cIt made me appreciate life a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glenn holds a special role in the changing climate. Her students are young, and may not understand what\u2019s happening or why schools do so many lockdown drills.<\/p>\n
On June 6, Twitter user Georgy Cohen posted an image of a poster in her elementary-bound child\u2019s school. On the poster was a rhyme instructing students what to do in the event of a shooting lockdown, to the tune of the nursery rhyme \u201cTwinkle, Twinkle Little Star.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis should not be hanging in my soon-to-be- kindergartener\u2019s classroom,\u201d Cohen wrote in her post.<\/p>\n
The classroom environment is different from classrooms 20 years ago \u2014 it even differs from classrooms in other countries. \u201cI am so sorry for all of you,\u201d a user identified as \u201cNuclear Football\u201d replied. \u201cKids in Austria only know fire drills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the state in Warren County, Superintendent Rob Clayton created a school safety task force after the Marshall County shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus remains on increasing the available resources that we provide our students (student resource officers and mental health specialists) and we will move expeditiously as possible through Board action,\u201d Superintendent Rob Clayton said in an email when asked about the most important aspect of his task force.<\/p>\n
Clayton emphasized his point on mental health, citing psychological research on school shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cResearch clearly demonstrates that we must be proactive by addressing the mental health needs of students well prior to any act of violence,\u201d Clayton said. \u201cIn addition to creating a healthy culture in all of our schools in which students feel comfortable to report concerns, I find that addressing the social\/emotional needs of students to be the best way of ensuring their safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clayton isn\u2019t without support. The American Psychological Association in 2013 said: \u201cAlthough it is important to recognize that most people suffering from a mental illness are not dangerous, for those persons at risk for violence due to mental illness, suicidal thoughts, or feelings of desperation, mental health treatment can often prevent gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The communities in Kentucky, and communities across the nation, continue to work with the end goal of being safe. The reality of the situation for Clayton, however, is that it will always be hard to predict where gun violence will take the nation next.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause much of what we do is to make students and our community \u2018feel\u2019 safe in our schools,\u201d Clayton said, \u201cwe must be prepared to make future adjustments based upon the realities of our ever-changing world and specific feedback from our community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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