Now more than ever we’ve seen an increase in school shootings and school based crime. Each day 12 children die from gun violence in America. Another 32 are shot and injured. The U.S. has had 2,032 school shootings since 1970 and these numbers are increasing. Alarmingly, 948 school shootings have taken place since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.

This rise in school based crime has caused many parents and students to feel concerned about their safety going to school on a daily basis.  The BIC administration has heard these concerns and is placing school safety as a number one priority for the district. Our school resource officers have taken precautions to prevent such traumatic experiences from happening here at Buffalo Island Central. Every resource officer is required to attend a basic resource officer class, it is worth 40 hours of training. This isn’t the only training all our resource officers are required to do; they are required by the state of Arkansas to perform an eight hour training in which they learn about youth mental health, as well as a four hour training to perform a school safety assessment.

 A school safety assessment is where they walk around the school and give the school suggestions on ways to improve the building to be more secure and to keep intruders from coming in. All this training is required for our resource officers to keep working and doing their job effectively.The Monette and Leachville Police Departments have worked closely with both campuses to make sure that all students are safe while at school, and school administrators have taken all precautions necessary  in order to prioritize school safety as a goal.

Officer Bond is a member of the Monette Police Department who does regular rotations at the high school campus. “ Seeing all the school shootings that have been happening lately, and knowing that everyone in my team has kids is a big reason why protecting this campus is so important to me,” said Bond. With all these new security guidelines put into place, Officer Bond has seen many changes, such as extra rules and security measures that prevent someone from harming students and having access to the school.

Sophomore Abi Knight said that she has been concerned about being safe at school due to all of the tragic events that have gone on across the country. “My parents and I have talked about what it would be like if I were to ever have to live through a school shooting. We’ve done drills at school in the past that have made me feel like this could really be something to worry about,” said Knight.

 However Knight went on to say that the knowledge that our district is focusing on school safety makes her feel more comfortable at school.” I feel like the staff and policemen will do what they need to protect us. I don’t worry about what happened at Uvalde happening here. They will protect us. That makes school feel better.”

Even with all these extra security guidelines BIC has put into place our Resource Officers still look to add more safety precautions. They aim to get the Fire Department and the Office of Emergency Management to come into the school and perform another safety assessment with fresh eyes. BIC will continue to stay focused on the safety of all students going into the future.