Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» How about a "bullet-proof steel room" inside each classroom as a place for kids to escape? Per our pal bh. GREAT IDEA?
My Congressman has been sent an E-mail on this subject. I will likely get a comeback E-mail saying something like ' your comments will be considered' and nothing further. We will see.
So you're not annoyed that I identified you then? Great. I do love that brilliant idea bh. I just wonder how much that would cost? As for what you anticipate getting from your Congressman I hope you're wrong. I hope the Congressman thanks you and assures you that he is going to DO SOMETHING and will take it up with his colleagues and actually does what he says he will do. Now of course that could be a lie since you won't know what he really does/says but honestly bh someone somewhere out there has go to have some common sense. What are the odds of that? Fingers crossed pretty good. Thank you for letting me know how you are following up on it. Happy President's Day Monday to ya! :)
I think it's a BRILLIANT idea m2c. A SAFE room. I've read about them. Billionaires have them as place for the family to be safe in case bad guys invade. Of course cost would be a factor. I have no idea what it would cost. Thank you for your reply and Happy President's Day Money to you! :)
The problem I keep coming to is that or schools are already so underfunded. School is rarely about learning through experiences these days, and more about sitting and doing worksheets. Teachers can't even get basic supplies from the schools, so those who do want to create better learning environments buy their supplies using their own very dismal paychecks. I could write a novel on all the things we're not doing for our kids and teachers, but should be.
I just glanced at pricing and can't find anything that specifically relates to this, but I'm betting a room big enough to hold all the kids would be somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 per classroom. With the size of the schools out here, we're talking millions of dollars per school. My teacher friend was denied chalk because it was not in the budget. :/ Where exactly is the money for these rooms coming from?
I don't know how other schools are, but most of the elementary schools out here by me are more or less locked down during the day. You can only get in through one door at the front office and they have to let you into the school. In some of the rougher areas, the office staff is even behind bullet-proof glass. The high schools are different because they're sprawling campuses rather than closed buildings. Students have to go in and out of various buildings all day. However, shortly after Columbine, they installed extra safety measures, such as automatically sealing doors, doors that sealed off entire departments, and probably more they didn't tell us about. The teachers all went through training and were taught what to do in an emergency. Each teacher knew where to move students to in the room and how to secure their room. I'm not saying that's the answer and I hope their security measures are never tested, but I think the steps they did take were prudent.
Equally, my high school also offered mental health services, such as counseling and support groups when I attended, and I did use them. I was a member of a support group for teen moms, and it helped me a lot, but there were all kinds of them. By the time my son went to the same school (15 years later), those services were totally gone. When people talk about this being a mental health issue and not a gun issue- it's stuff like that- removing those services- that matters. What if those kids with issues had a place to go where they belonged and felt supported?
We can talk about dumping millions of dollars per school into safe rooms, but that doesn't address the real issue. I, personally, would much rather see that money go into more services and opportunities within the schools. As a byproduct, I believe it would eliminate or at least minimize the risks here. Pair that with a few more modest measures, such as the schools here have implemented, and they can eliminate outside risks as well. Again, though... even the adult shooters- like the husband who targeted his estranged wife's school and the son who targeted his mother's school- would likely have been better served by getting the help and support they needed at a young age. It goes full circle. Start building people up and helping them at a young age, they're going to grow into well-adjusted adults. If all you do is make it harder for them to shoot up schools, they'll just move onto the next weakest link- sports games, kids getting on buses, and so on. There will always be an unfortified area. We need to stop putting band-aids on stuff and treat the issue.
I do applaud the ingenuity of the idea here, but I don't think it's the answer. I love that people are creatively thinking, though.
Good point. However, when I went to school in Wisconsin, we did have tornado drills. For those, students all had different areas to report to- little alcoves throughout the school which didn't have windows or outside doors. I'm not sure if the spaces were intentionally built into the school or not- most were simply hallways- but they were safe during a tornado and didn't cost any money.
Thank you for your extremely thoughtful, useful and information-filled reply JA. I do appreciate that you even checked out what such a room might cost and shared that figure with us. When I read the idea bh had a big light came on over my head like they do in comic strips. I thought it was superb in fact. I mean if we can't stop guns from getting in the hands of the crazies maybe we can at least protect our kids from the consequences better than we have which is to say not at all. I think you know that I have thought teaching as the most noble profession. I have always believed that. The icing on my cake is that my son is a college professor. Maybe I influenced him a little bit as he was growing up. I know they use their own money to supplement the lack of what is needed and supplied to them. This administration cares not one whit about education so they will do nothing. Maybe those billionaires who have pledged to leave most of their fortunes to charity can get together and fund it? I think I'm gonna ask. I know if I had children in school today I would be terrified daily as I imagine many parents are. We KNOW there will be another next time although I must say the teenagers at the Florida school VOW theirs will be the last! They are being interviewed and to a person they SCREAM at the donjohn to DO SOMETHING! One said she would like to know how much much money he has received from the NRA. These kids are not gonna roll over and shut up. They are sick and tired of the spineless cold uncaring adults who say all the comforting words after EVERY MASSACRE but insist on buying more guns and opening up the right to own gun to anyone who wants one including all the crazies. They are liars. They are evil. They are the many sadly. Let's see what the kids can do. I think I would be scared to death of them if I were a pol. They are tomorrow's voters and they are going to vote out any pol beholden to the NRA. One of them said they are gonna fight to elect anti-NRA pols. I think the one student is not alone. I'd say the cowardly pols owned by the NRA had better BE VERY AFRAID. Their days are numbered I hope. Happy President's Day Monday m'dear! :)
B.H.Wilson 