Increasing school safety drills

Following events such as the Oxford High school shooting and the Lexington school bus catching on fire with students inside, I question if Delta school districts are doing enough to keep their students and staff safe. Students and staff of DHS responded with mixed emotions about increasing school safety drills. Jazmyn Garner, a freshman at DHS responded with, “Yes, all but the basics like fire drills, because we already know how to do them. We should practice drills that are more likely to happen. Like school shootings.”Many people have strong emotions about this subject. The staff feels as though practicing these drills could be traumatic for the students and staff. DHS held two training sessions, Stop the Bleed and an active shooter drill. 

  Stop the Bleed training helps staff and students learn how to help save a life in case of serious events. The active-shooter training puts staff through a real-life role-play of a school shooting. In hopes to prepare staff for the real thing, DHS performed both training sessions. Shawna Magtutu, a councilor at DHS stated, “ I participated actively in the stop the bleed training, and the active shooter drills. …A big amount of our staff was very traumatized by that.’’ Magtutu also stated “…Then other staff stepped up and adrenaline pumped and they loved it. So it was just a difference in personality and comfort.” 

Small communities such as Delta along with less racially diverse areas sometimes cause stereotypes and the feeling that danger isn’t a big worry. 

Garner said, “ We live in our stereotypes, like the stereotype that there aren’t a lot of colored races within this city, so it’s not stereotypically a dangerous area.” Others feel that even though this is a small community, it’s always safe to stay prepared.

 “I think we’re very fortunate that we live in a small community and overall our crime and drug rate is very low comparatively. But I know that we take that for granted in a lot of ways too because there’s just no way that you can predict these things,” said Magtutu. Although we live in a safer and smaller community, it’s always safe to be prepared for the worst and increase school safety drills. Students should feel safe inside of their schools without the worry of being in danger. For the safety of all students and staff, the Delta school district should increase the practice of safety drills.