Do you feel safe going to school at Rocky? Poudre School District (PSD) believes that in order to protect schools teachers need to be informed and equipped and prepare them for the worst. Friday, March 2nd, while students have the day off, all Rocky employees will be attending a seminar taught by Officer Carver.  

The purpose of this seminar will be to instruct staff and teachers on what to do for the worst case scenario  at school.

This is, as Mr. Stapleton put it, “The best practice for how to deal with situations no one wants to think about.”

This includes any situation at school that a teacher may have to react differently than any other day, including car accidents, students inflicting harm on other students or themselves, school shootings, fires, etc.

In a past piece of mine I contemplate and wonder if students are scared to come to school. I never addressed teachers. Talking to Mr. Stapleton, Mr. Armstrong and Officer Carver, none of them showed any sign of fear or anxiety about coming to work every day. Stapleton and Armstrong put it simply.

They said if students will follow basic safety restrictions or suggestions, we will stay safe at Rocky. These suggestions include not letting kids or adults you don’t know in the access doors at Rocky during school hours. This is one of the easiest ways we can stay safe, but not the easiest.

What was the number one thing we learned in kindergarten? Be nice. Two simple words that seem so easy but are hard to do. Most school shooting or mass killings are caused by students who were bullied or picked on at their school. Lots of kids ask what they can do to stop it and it’s right there. By being nice you may be stopping any kind of motive or intent someone may have to inflict pain on others.

Friday’s seminar was set up almost a year ago and was not a result of recent school shootings. Fort Collins, Fossil, and Poudre High School have all already taken this seminar. If there is no obvious solution to stopping mass school shootings, then the best thing we can do is put perfectly by Mr. Stapleton, “Plan for the worst, hope for the best.”

Because it’s an idea being proposed by President Trump, I asked Stapleton and Armstrong how they felt about teachers carrying guns during school hours.Stapleton stands by the Second Amendment, but does not think that it is the right thing for teachers to carry on campus. I mean, we all know those teachers who can’t turn off their smart board. The idea of them carrying a gun is just frightening. Armstrong sees both sides of the argument. On the one hand, he knows that some teachers may not be up for it, or capable, but he also sees how after hours of training and mental testing, trusting a teacher with a weapon might prevent a student from doing anything irrational.

No one wants to feel scared at school. I don’t know what we as Americans need to do to make schools safe. Students are starting to take initiative and protest the ideas of gun control. I’m not sure what is going to be done about it, but it is not a bad start.