When coming to school, feeling safe and secure is something very important. At the McPherson High school many changes have been made to provide more security for the 2018-2019 school year. At the start of the year a resource officer was hired and classroom doors were locked at all times during each period. This provided students with a sense of stability and reassurance.

However, last Thursday on the 8th a threat was made towards the McPherson High School. Students discovered a message written on the wall by the math rooms that threatened something was going to happen to the High School.  This being a very serious matter, additional officers were at the school for the rest of the week to provide more defence and support. This is an ongoing investigation and the person responsible has not been found yet.

Speaking to officer Herrman of Basehor Kansas on school threats, he said: “Schools have to be aware that threats can come from others, not just the enrolled students. Controlling all entry points into the facility is key.” Speaking to exchange student Sophie Meister on how she reacted to this school threat, she said: “I think our school threat was for attention, we would get out of school the next day anyways so they wouldn’t have the officers looking for them the whole week. If you wanted to do something you wouldn’t write it down. You would say “okay, I’m going to do it tomorrow” instead of writing it on the school walls.” A students view and an officer’s view was a lot different in this situation.

School shootings are something very dreadful as well. From someone entering the school that isn’t permitted, to a planning an attack. It is how we react that matters most. Practicing a procedure for school incidents can be very important and could help save lives in an emergency. Many school shootings have happened throughout the years but is there anything we can do to foresee one?

Speaking to junior Kelbi Turner, she said: “I feel safe at our school. I think school shootings are pretty unpredictable and there is no reason to feel unsafe at school because you can’t exactly predict a school shooting.” Overall I believe that this is something we can not predict but it is something we can prepare for by learning things to do in this situation and knowing when to report things you witness.

School threats and shootings can have very tragic outcomes so it is important to not ignore them and stay aware of the people around us. No Matter who you are, always speak up if you hear or see something that could potentially hurt the people around you.