I wrote this on Facebook this morning. I don’t do much on Facebook these days, but it had to be said.
When I was a kid, at this time of year the side doors at Lura Sharp Elementary School near the gym and auditorium were often wide open to let the breezes blow through that majestic building as students and teachers made their way to the end of the school year. Inviting the spring weather into the building reminded us that summer vacation was just a few weeks away and it added that special element necessary to get us through the last chapters of our books and our final exams.
I understand that Lura Sharp Elementary is configured a bit differently today, and that gates and buzzers and ID badges and reinforced walls and bulletproof glass and all that are necessary because our schools are no longer safe for our students, teachers, and administrative personnel. I keep hearing “times are different”. Yes they are, and it makes my heart ache.
I hope the time comes when we start addressing the actual issues and not just the symptoms. Children should never feel unsafe. Our elected officials, on all sides of the aisle, are failing us. When nothing was done after Sandy Hook is when they gave up. We knew this would happen again. And I can’t even begin to count the number of times we’ve lost children to an active shooter in a school. No one wants to talk about solutions. “More guards!” “More barbed wire!” “More gates and buzzers!” Again, addressing the symptoms, not the problem. Oh don’t worry, there’s always tweets of condolences but in a few days time the politicians will start grandstanding and blustering about something idiotic again. Then it’ll be more students in another school, rinse and repeat.
Our children should never feel unsafe.
