HARRAH, Oklahoma -
Since the tragic shooting at Sandy
Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., many ideas to improve school security
have been thrown around.
Some advocate for putting armed
guards in every school while others suggest arming teachers. Now
administrators, law enforcement and lawmakers need to look at what's actually
feasible with real-world constraints.
School
districts big and small, urban and rural, are faced with the challenging task
of improving school security. In Harrah, former police officer Phil Stewart has
been charged with making comprehensive changes to school district's security
policy.
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"Simply
putting a police officer in the parking lot in a car just isn't going to be
sufficient in today's day and time. This needs to be somebody who is directly
involved with the schools. Knows the daily habits and patterns of the schools
and its students," he said.
Tightening
budgets, however, prevent most places from putting highly-trained, armed
resource officers in every school. Stewart said there are other options that do
not cost money.
"All
the way down to that one teacher challenging whoever in the building, ‘Good
morning may I help you find someone?' We're going to know within seconds if
that person is an intruder."
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Stewart
said an inside-out line of defense has to be in place. That includes training
teachers situational defense skills to minimize the impacts of an intruder.
"We
conduct intruder and lockdown drills the way other districts conduct fire
drills. We do them frequently. We do them as realistically as we can without
frightening our students."
Stewart
also said arming teachers and administrators might not be the best solution,
unless they go through extensive training because accidents can happen, such as
guns being left unattended.
School districts big and small, urban and rural, are faced with the challenging task of improving school security.
