Journal #8-by Jessica Updike

Violent incidents that have occurred in schools over the past couple of years have caused an uproar over increasing school security measures. In the 2003-2004 school year, there was a total of 2,165 students that have been expelled for bring a firearm to school. In 2005, in a survey of students and teachers, 7.9% of them reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. By increasing security measures, these numbers can decrease dramatically preventing students from possessing firearms at school, along with any other type of weapon. School administrators tend to worry more about the cost of security measures, although they may not realize that there are major costs and aftereffects of school violence that is much greater than the cost of installing different types of security measures. The total amount of money needed to cover the costs of violence is estimated to be around $2 million per episode. Therefore, it would be a better plan to be ready for a security breach rather than waiting for it to happen and pay for the costs later. Schools are meant to be a learning environment, but how can students learn if they are in constant fear? There are different types of security measures that can be installed to decrease the risk of a violent episode happening in a school. Such security measures are closed-circuit television cameras, door security hardware, electronic security panels, metal detectors, and panic buttons. If all schools included these measures in their assessment, there would be no more fear or pain that students can endure due to the incidents that are occurring within schools.