If you’ve followed the news in the past two-to-three years you’ll know that one of the biggest problems among parents is their childrens’ safety when going to, coming from, and at school. While we go to school everyday following our normal routine, not every school is as lucky.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, we saw the highest amount of gun violence ever at a peak of 193 events. Twenty-seven of those are mass school shootings with the unfortunate Uvalde, Texas shooting being the last one of that school year. (August 1st-May 31st) So are students truly safe at school?

On Friday, September 23rd, a fake call of an active shooter on Princeton High School’s grounds sent the school into a lockdown with the surrounding schools following suit. This is not the first time a fake call has been received this year with 30 calls happening the week of September 11th through the 17th.

Middletown High School, another Cincinnati area high school, too had a fake call, in this instance it was a fake bomb call with bomb squads dispatched to the location. While these situations were entirely false, it was still a frightening experience nonetheless and if these were not hoaxes, many lives could have been taken. This is to be noted that calls like these are extremely illegal and both have impending investigations with Princeton’s call traced back to California.

With these calls I want to present the question: Are students really safe? There are plenty of arguments on how to ensure students safety: Should teachers carry guns? Is virtual learning an option? Should police be on patrol when kids are in school? While these arguments could supply a means to keep students safer, each has its own set backs. There would be an argument if schools should pay for the teachers guns and safety training along with a new program would need to be put in place. Virtual learning does not supply kids with the proper learning the school environments yearns to integrate every school year. Policing during school hours also calls for a supply of officers which would add more to the payroll but with today’s issues, many have either quit the job or hesitant to join. So what could be the solution to an ever-increasing issue? The answer is simple; there is none.

People will never agree on anything as collective group and there is no shortage of examples of this. If any standard or “solution” was to be put in place there would be a huge uprising from both sides and mostly create buzz and not exactly help, especially in the situations mentioned earlier in the article. The safest we can be would to put limits on purchasing of guns for citizens and that alone has been an ever longing battle with no clear end in the near future.

The best way to keep a student safe outside of the school’s jurisdiction is having life360, Apple location services or some app like those on for students and their parents if their child drives or is taken to school by another individual.

It’s a small inconvenience for the child but helps guarantee their safety on the way to and from school. Some schools have other security provisions like metal detectors that may be beneficial with some smaller schools or schools with multiple entrances.

How ever you may see fit or have potential ideas for student safety, it is ultimately a larger problem that has to be solved at it’s root.