(January 31, 2013) — Imagine sitting in a classroom on a normal day, when a gunman walks in and points a gun at the class. In just a couple of seconds, 30 lives are lost and shattered. Shock and panic take over the students’ emotions, and they are left in the classroom waiting for aid. It is during these critical times where many schools re-evaluate ways to keep their students as safe as possible.

With different shootings happening all around the nation, such as the recent shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and Taft Union High School, the Glendale Unified District and the staff at Clark Magnet have taken crucial steps to reduce the risks of a possible danger in the future. Just how easily can a stranger enter Clark without attracting attention? “As far as being safe on campus, we’re pretty safe all the time, but as far as somebody getting in on to campus, it’s probably easy to get into our campus because it is really hard to secure a high school campus because of its size and people going in and out all the time,” said Randy Tiffany, a member of the school safety committee.

“I don’t think if we’re all that secure we try to lock as many gates as we can, so that people can’t just come through the fences. We hope they come through the front door, and that way we see them right away.” According to Scott Anderle, the Assistant Director for Student Support Services, the District has been aware of this problem for years and has taken many procedures to reduce the risk of school shootings.

“They are working to make sure the doors are more secure and we are also reviewing all of our school safety plans within the district to make sure everything is up to date and accurate,” Anderle said. “From the district level we are not planning on having the classroom doors locked at all times, but we recommend that we have a situation where a teacher has the ability to lock the doors from the inside should they ever need to, because a lot of our doors are only locked from the outside and we are looking into changing that.”

With all of the safety precautions taken by the Glendale Fire and Police department, GUSD has been preparing for the worst by reviewing schools’ safety plans, locking doors, and trying to build a stronger relationship between teachers and students. The District plans to have emergency trucks filled with food and water to provide for the students if a shooting ever takes place.

“It’s constant thing, we’re going to continue to do this for the next couple of months,” Anderle said. “We’re having a training for all of the administrators and we’re ordering reflective vests. We look at the emergencies we had, we evaluate our plans, reflect on what kind of problems we had and try to fix them.”

There have also been discussions on having armed guards at some schools in the nation. According to a recent article in the New York Times, some school districts in Arizona have already taken that step, providing schools with armed guards. “I think in some schools it’s probably a good idea, but at some schools like Clark where we really don’t have any problems, no fights, I don’t think it’s really necessary,” Tiffany said. “Not at this point in time anyway.”

Although these recent shootings have brought much attention to the issue of gun violence, school shootings have been happening for many years. “What’s happening across the country is a tragedy but we need to do the best we can to keep this school safe. However, we don’t want to turn our schools into prisons,” Anderle said. “The research shows that in schools where the students and teachers have good relationships, they are more likely to communicate when they hear about situations that are going to happen.”

According to Anderle, in the end, the safety of schools rests in the hands of its students and teachers. They are the ones that can help with preventing many triggering causes for these shootings, such as bullying. “A lot of violence happens because a student was being bullied, and brings a weapon and shoots the bully,” Anderle said. “And if you can take care of bullying, you can reduce the chance of having a shooting at either one of our campuses.”