Dear President,

School safety has been a major issue throughout schools in the United States. School attendance is much lower when there is a threat put against their school. Parents are scared to send their kids to school. Parents should not be afraid to send their kids to school. Also the students are too scared to go to school so the attendance is lowered. Making schools a safer place will make parents want to send their kids to school and students to go to school even if there is a threat.

I had a personal experience with my school having a threat made against them. On September 27, 2016 there was a threat that someone was going to dress up as a clown and shoot up the middle school. The school, news, and social media were talking about the threat and that school will continue the next day with heightened security. I happened to come to school the next day. I expected to see many police officers around but I realized that there were not that many officers to patrol the area. I am a junior in high school, when I entered the school there stood one counselor and the Vice Principal at the entrance. That day only 40% of high school students came to school. The other 60% stayed home because they were scared and/or their parents did not want to send their kids to school. Since 2013 there have been 142 school shootings in the United States. If there have been 142 school shootings since 2013, how many will take place in the next few years? There were 812 school threats in the United States between the months of August 1 to December 31, 2014. I cannot imagine what will happen in these following years. Schools need to be a safer place so students feel safe to go to school.

Schools cannot afford to make their school safer since they do not have enough money. I have one question. Why don’t schools get money from the government to help protect the students? We are the future, right? Parents believe that schools need to have more safety regulations. Most parents do not want to send their kids to school for this reason. Teachers want all students and themselves to feel safe to come to school and continue learning/teaching.

There are effects and people who are affected by school shootings and threats. If someone gains access to and is able to shoot, teachers and students could end up dying. The other students will suffer trauma after experiencing a shooting. Parents are also affected if their kid is shot or has trauma. What can be done is that there needs to be better security in schools. Schools need funds to purchase security cameras to see/ find out who someone is before letting them in the school.

It is time to take action, help protect schools and everyone inside of them. With schools not having enough funds to protect their people, school shootings are taking place. School safety is the number one priority to keeping student’s safe and allowing them to be the future. The lack of school safety is lowering attendance and government action is needed to help fund schools for a safer school.

Thank you,

Shelby