It’s going to be a while before the raw, open wounds caused by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings heal.
And with open wounds come exposed, frayed nerves. In a variety of ways, from the national debate over gun control to school safety, we’re seeing a general high-strung intensity taking place in these discussions.
Rightly so; the events in Newtown, Conn., with 20 dead schoolchildren and six dead educators, are the not the kinds of things one simply erases from the memory banks, whether we’re discussing access to firearms or access to our children through the long-thought safe environs of a school.
It’s a fair statement to make that had it not been for Sandy Hook, threats of violence on Brawley schools through the Internet probably wouldn’t have come with such a drastic response.
Does it really matter, though? Not today, it doesn’t. Parents need to feel like their concerns are being heard, that their greatest fears are being addressed in a response that is on par with the anxiety they are feeling.
The city of Brawley and its elementary and high school districts did all the right things in dealing with Facebook threats of violence against nonspecific Brawley schools last week.
Late Thursday threats were made, and by around 9 p.m. Thursday night a recorded calling system was contacting Brawley parents to let them know security measures were going to be heightened Friday morning in response to the threats.
The city of Brawley sent out media releases at 10:45 p.m. that night, and by Friday morning, police officers were at many of the district schools to provide a visual deterrent, but mostly, we think, peace of mind.
Access to the campuses all around the city was restricted, either by having parents sign in to walk their children to class, or by stopping them at the gate.
The point of the day was, safety of the students was going to be ensured. Administrators throughout the districts will likely say publically that all threats to safety are to be taken seriously — we believe it when they state that, and we would expect nothing less.
That said, though, this response has everything to do with the Sandy Hook anxiety, and we don’t think that should be discounted. Brawley schools, and the city, did the right and responsible thing here.
There are always going to be critics; it’s the nature of our society. But, parents, give the Brawley schools their due; this was done to ensure safety, yes, but it was also done to ease the stress and strain of a mind full of worst-case scenarios.
THE ISSUE:
School safety heightened in Brawley.
WE SAY:
Sandy Hook has nerves on end, so Brawley’s response was appropriate.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
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