The following is in part a response to a public forum held this morning by Supt. Irene Cornish to address school safety.
By Traci Totten
I was actually disheartened by the actions and responses taken by officials.
My kids are back in school today as I know I cannot keep them home all week without instilling my fears into them. But I walked them into school today and could have easily bypassed the office and went straight to either classroom.
Yes, they know me, but I am hearing from co-workers and friends in surrounding towns, the elementary schools there are sending out updates, letting parents know the police are on-site at the schools, canceling outdoor recess.
We know nothing in Stratford. I have no idea about recess being canceled. There are no police at any elementary school today -- high schools and middle schools, yes, so why not elementary? This happened in Smalltown USA at a random elementary school! I get that the cost must be factored in but for one week before they are on Christmas break, they cannot have at least one cop at each school? I know that things could happen with cops there.
I get that they are placing things in such a way that a larger plan is in place. However, we need an immediate response to ensure the safety of our kids.
I work at an Aerospace and Defense company. I am located in an office building in Trumbull. You need a badge to enter the building, or you need to call the office you are going to visit to be buzzed in. There are cameras at each entrance. In my office, specifically, you cannot come in the back part. There is protocol in place to protect the information we house here.
Our kids are so much precious then the items we at workplaces protect yet the measures there seem to be more effective and proactive. I feel that the district is waiting to be responsive at this point, and not proactive.
One woman at the meeting asked, "What's it going to take" to get cops at every school NOW. The answers were so vague -- I left feeling like nothing was accomplished. This doesn't seem to be priority. I respect that it takes an effort to get officials together. I respect that they need a concrete response to be confident in what they tell us they are doing is actually happening.
Bottom line is: police need to be at our elementary schools this week, all week. No one is going to complain. The kids will not be afraid -- the ones old enough to know what is happening will be comforted. The ones too young look at police as protectors; so there is no harm or fear instilling to worry about.
I am confident I speak for many in saying the meeting this morning was not effective and tomorrow I will not feel any safer sending my kids in then I did today.
"I appreciate why parents feel concerned. Of course we do! However, unless authorities have said there is a raised threat level at the schools this week, why should this week be different that three or four weeks ago, when no one was demanding more security? Again, I appreciate we are so keyed up and anxious over this, but increased security measures are not economically feasible at this time, nor would they likely stop someone like Mr. Lanza. I suggest we revisit the conversation after the holidays when everyone has had the chance to take a moment to stop being exposed to the media and rethink things." http://www.facebook.com/StratfordPatch
I must say that our school is excellent and I appreciate the staff, teachers and administrators there. My letter was in no way against how they are handling this- but as a town, if you look around, there is more we can do. However, without the help from the town what can the schools do?
When the initial sting of the tragedy subsides and people can come together from all sides and have some meaningful exchange and come up with what is best for our kids.
We as a nation have to face that times are not the same as they were in 1998 (when I graduated). There does need to be security at each school. There are more measures that need to be taken. This is our reality. I didnt have cops in school when I was a kid (Franklin)- but my reality as a child is far different from this world my kids are growing up in.
If your entire security relies on one door then it's quite easy to see why this would fail. You don't want to turn the schools into mini prisons, but on the other hand you don't want to make it so easy to have free run of a place once you get past the one line of defense.
You are right, violence is endemic. It doesn’t make sense to me to add more guns to the mixture. Putting police in schools has not increased the safety of the kids in any measurable way. New York has had cops in schools for years. The results: kids are being arrested for acting like kids. The best way to protect our families and our society is to take these weapons of mass destruction off the store shelves and out of our lives.
The elementary school my kids go to has the same security system as Sandy Hook, and the front door and office is surround by large areas of regular old glass. If they want glass they need to replace it all with high density plexi glass or some other material that won't shatter when hit with anything including projectiles. Anyone that really wanted to get in could, they also need to put up car barriers like they have in the front of stores, just something as simply as steel reinforced pillars or even round ball shaped concrete. There is so much they could do to make the schools safer.
he chose the elementary because they are filled with small kids and women. Why didn't he go to a high school or middle school? because the kids there are bigger and the teachers are more likely to be men. We need to address the physical security issues first because it's not just home grown nut cases that could do something like this, and I am really surprised foreign terrorists have not already tried this, no doubt after the world wide attention this is getting they are getting ideas.
Even if he had 10 round magazines he would have done just as much damage. People you need to get with it on the whole "Assault" weapon thing. We don't need 30 round magazines for center fire rifles, I will agree to that, but saying banning semi automatic rifles would have stopped him is absurd. What would have stopped him is better physical security as the school which would have included getting rid of the standard glass around the door, what good is a security system tha can be bypassed with a hammer or baseball bat or a projectile?