PRO:

Safety always seems to be of importance in our society. I believe that being safe is a necessary aspect of life, and that it should be a priority.

 
The measures taken to ensure safety have become more extreme, more noticeable, and more present in our everyday lives. Due to the violent actions of disturbed individuals, these safety measures have become essential.
Evidence of new rules being put into effect to ensure safety can be seen in our own school; locked doors, visitor’s identification being looked over before entering our school, and the presence of police officers.

 
These are all things imperative to maintaining a safe environment for students to learn.
Although the locked doors may be irritating to those of us who are too lazy to walk around to the front of the school, I feel safer knowing that people have to go through the front, where they can be seen by staff.
It is hard not to feel safe in a school full of cameras, as well as police officers.

 
It would be another story if we had absolutely no security, such as officers and cameras, but we do. I feel fortunate enough to be in a school district that has police units and ways to monitor us.

 
Some may feel that it is an invasion of privacy to have so many eyes on us at all times, but if we didn’t there might be incidences that could be potentially dangerous.

 
With people monitoring what is happening, it could lead to quicker action and response time to any threatening situation.
In order to maintain safety in any situation we are put in, we just have to remember what we were taught in the drills mandated by staff.   by  Co-Entertainment Editor Blaine MacMorran

CON:

I could count the number of places where I feel completely safe on one hand, and none of those places would be a school.
Locked gates and metal doors do little to protect students from an intruder, especially when they’re left wide open. It seems that every few months there’s another tragedy plastered across the front page of every newspaper in the country.

 
For those who argue that students are protected during school hours with cops and locked classroom doors, then okay I can see that. Although, for things like long lasting rehearsals or sporting events that cause you to stay after hours and walk to your car in the dark, that’s a different story.

 
Although, when it comes to being safe on campus there’s not much to say. Leading into the school there are easy access gates that are not only left open and unlocked, but are incredibly easy to jump over if you really wanted in.
Also, the metal classroom doors that are supposed to be locked in order to keep students safe, just knock and someone will let you in. When it comes down to it, it’s not that hard to just walk in.

 
Protecting students could be simple, college campuses offer various systems in which students use their student ID badges to check in electronically.

 
If it were a requirement to show your student ID or a visitor pass to get in, then it would cut back on people just walking on campus for whatever reason. Another thing that could help, while nobody really enjoys them, is drills.
For the most part, students should feel safe on campus, but they do need to be aware that stuff like that happens and to be ready in case it does.  by  Co-Entertainment Editor Kamryn Bryce