By Kimberly Del Angel
Entertainment Editor
The young, innocent faces of the 20 children and six adults, who tragically died on Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., have since haunted America, unleashing national fear and a war of words between liberals, conservatives and everything in between, with gun control restrictions and the “right to bear arms” muttered between breaths.
As America’s independent school districts begin to initiate and take the steps necessary to strengthen school security and ensure the safety of its students, Coppell parents have mixed feelings and concerns regarding their children’s safety.
“I was very concerned when I heard about what happened at Sandy Hook; I was worried about the security of our schools—the front doors are not very secure and someone can come in and slip to the left where all the classrooms are,” Wilson Elementary mother Dominique Kichan said.
Coppell Independent School District is renown for its exemplary schools, and its leaders are working diligently to enforce security behind the scenes.
“We’ve been meeting with the Coppell police and working on other things, to make sure that all doors are locked during the day, and of course our school resource officers are on our campuses, especially at the high school and middle school levels,” assistant superintendent for business and support services Sid Grant said. “We will be ensuring that that people check in first when they enter the campus and do not just have free reign of the school, especially at the elementary schools.”
Currently, CISD is in the process of mapping out a plan in which elementary school entrances will be closed, forcing visitors to go directly into the office where they are to check into Lobby Guard kiosk where the system runs a back ground check on the individual. The number of lockdown and lockout drills will also increase throughout the year at all campuses along with the number of safety checks done by administration.
“Since [Sandy Hook], we have had a police officer who makes pretty frequent checks throughout the building several times a week,” Cottonwood Creek Elementary Principal Dr. Andrea Penny said. “But it’s really all about making the children aware, making sure they know if they see an adult in the building without a visitor’s pass that they are to tell a teacher or what to do if they are in the hallway and they hear one of our signals over the intercom.”
Faculty and staff have been through several hours of training over district-wide protocol procedures: evacuate, take shelter, lockdown, lockout – whether it’s a weather emergency or an invader on campus. This has helped many students become more comfortable in the school atmosphere.
“I feel safe in my school because I know that there are a lot of people who wouldn’t sit by and comply with the shooter,” senior Hayden Henry said. “There would be many attempts to stop them, even by unarmed people, and that makes me feel safer because I know that there are a lot of great people here in Coppell. But Coppell is one of the few schools I’ve ever been in, and I know how they work, so I can’t say the same about every other school in the country.”
Recently, several Texas schools, including Harrold, Ganado, Louise and Van ISD have opted to allow teachers to carry concealed handguns after getting a concealed handgun license and gaining approval from the school board. As of now, CISD has not discussed this measure, so there is no response on the matter. Current board policy, however, does not allow it.
“I think it has to take a lot of thought before anyone allows teachers to carry firearms in schools. I can certainly understand some of their thoughts, but I definitely think there is going to be some dialogue,” Penny said. “I also think just arming teachers is not the answer, there has to be some training, procedures, expectations that go along with that.”
Outdoor Education teacher Bill Parker teaches students yearly about firearms and has developed an opinion on why gun misuse has led to a highest number of shootings in the U.S. since 1999 this past year.
“I think a lot of people don’t really have a grasp of reality,” Parker said. “A lot of young people and some older people are just not in touch with what can actually happen. After being shot, your body can go into shock and you can lose control of bodily functions; they don’t ever show that on TV.”
There is only so much that can be done to prevent the unexpected. For now, CISD is working to fix its flaws and keep strong reinforcement in all other areas.
“The important thing is for everyone, as terrible as these shootings are, as shocking as they are to take a deep breath, take a step back and don’t do things that aren’t going to help in the long-term,” Grant said. “We need to take a more careful approach and figure out what is really going to work, what is going to help to prevent tragedies such as these from happening.”
