UNITED STATES – Across the U.S., many students face a danger every day that nobody thought possible. As students walk into school, they are faced with the idea of never walking out again. Within the last week, there have been five school shootings. In ONE week we have faced something you wouldn’t see once every five months. I think it’s time for school districts across the country to take a new course of action. 

On October 1st, 2021, there was a school shooting in Houston, Texas that the news would not report on. I had found out about the shooting through a social media site called TikTok. I never thought I would see the day where the news wouldn’t report on something so serious. Thankfully nobody was killed, but the principal of the school was shot while trying to warn teachers and students. Now today, October 6th, 2021, there was another school shooting in Houston after a fight broke out. An eighteen-year-old student pulled out a 45 caliber handgun and started shooting his classmates. After shooting his classmates, he was able to escape the school and run from the cops for several hours. How does someone who had shot four people get out of the school? There is no other answer than that the school district was not prepared. I will never forget the day when the Sandy Hook Elementary School was attacked. Nobody ever thought that someone would go into an elementary school and kill innocent children just trying to learn and see friends. I remember making snowflakes to send to the elementary school showing our support. I was young but from that moment forward I knew that I wasn’t safe going to school.

I can say that there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about what would happen if that ever happened to me. And the answer is simple to that thought. When you are put in a situation like that, there is only one thing to do, hope that you make it out alive. As a student of the GNA school district, there needs to be more time put into the thought of something like that happening. School shootings are occurring more and more every day. As kids going to school, we shouldn’t have to worry about never seeing friends and family again after walking to class. I personally think we need to teach students that hiding in a corner will not keep them safe. When something like this happens, we need to have the students barricade the door so the shooter cannot get in. We also need to put some sort of defense mechanism in every teacher’s room. I’m not saying add guns or anything like that; however, I am suggesting giving teachers baseball bats or some kind of club to defend themselves and their kids could prevent so much from happening. Along with adding defense mechanisms, we need to supply teachers with something to break the windows with so kids can get out through there. And for all the teachers on the second floor, we need to give them some sort of rope or ladder to hang out the window so kids can get out if they are on the second floor. I also think we need to add more security guards on the grounds. It is relieving to have a security guard on the grounds, but we simply need more.

Schools aren’t prepared for school shootings because it was different when they first came up with their plans. But those plans aren’t working anymore and it’s time for a change.