December 9, 2024. Sydney was huddled against the wall. She was hiding from something that she didn’t understand. Some people laughed when the teacher turned off the lights. While her face glowed from the light on her phone in the dark, she was texting to see what was going on. What came on the phone screen was one of the things she didn’t think could happen at South. She saw police officers running inside the school while there were more surrounding it. She still didn’t understand what was going on, but she knew this school lockdown was definitely not a drill.
Now there was Sara. She walked into school in the morning, yogurt in hand, thinking it would be a regular boring traditional day at school. She walked with the same people to her classes. She walked with her boyfriend for some, her friends for others and by herself for the rest. She then got to her sixth hour. She was talking with her friend and, mid-sentence, the Student Resource Officers (SRO) walked in. She stopped and watched as they brought one of her classmates out of the room. No one knew what was going on, but they didn’t really worry about it until they heard loud bangs outside. She got up to look through the door and saw the officers throw her classmate while he tried to fight back.
These stories have fake names in them, but they are real life experiences of someone who knew what was happening on December 9 and saw it first hand. Then there was someone who was on a different side of school and had no clue what was happening. This story shows you how being in one spot at the wrong time might change someone’s life. If things were different, Sydney could have escaped and Sara could have died. That’s what could have happened at South. The school all my siblings went to could have been where someone died.
We all know school is sometimes stressful, it’s hard work and honestly overwhelming, but December 9 was confusing and scary. We are very lucky that things didn’t escalate and we all knew we were safe. But what if things had gone differently? Anyone can die in an instant, so what’s stopping that from happening in our school?
What is stopping it from happening in a place that is supposed to be a safe place? What are the procedures and policies that are supposed to protect us from shootings in the Shawnee Mission School District? The SMSD Board Documents include almost every policy you could imagine, including entrance age requirements, searches of properties, searches of students, interrogation and investigation, weapons, suspension and expulsion procedures and use of surveillance cameras. Now, these are only some of the policies they have at our school, but I can’t stop thinking, is it enough?
Another thing I couldn’t stop thinking about is security. What are they going to do if something happens? We see the SRO daily. They are usually waiting near the walls for something to happen. They can step in to try and help us, but we don’t know what they do after we can’t see them.
I never thought about what the SRO would do in a real-life crisis in our school, that could affect not just our lives but theirs until now. What I did know is that the officers in this school have a job to do as much as the teachers. The SRO and teachers would both step forward if there was a gun pointing at a student, or that’s what we think, right?
When I talked to the officers, they went through what they would do if someone brought a weapon or an illegal substance to school, how there would be two investigations going on, a school and criminal procedures. The SRO told us how they aren’t allowed to search a car unless given permission but can in certain circumstances and how almost always it’s the teachers who tell them about students with illegal substances.
When I realized the impact that being a cop has on their mental state, it made me more thankful and aware in a way that I wasn’t before for the SRO. Yet, even with the knowledge of what these policies and officers do to protect us, I still worry. There have been three to four school threats this school year and now I can’t stop worrying about how likely it is for a real shooting to happen at South.
No, a shooting hasn’t happened here, but we had a scare on December 9. A student was reported by police to have shown off his gun repeatedly to his friends, but luckily no shots were fired. I was in the room across from where the incident happened. All I heard was banging and I saw police officers on people’s Snapchat stories, but I didn’t fully understand what was going on. After I saw the news and heard firsthand what happened all I thought was, “Wow, I could have died in this forsaken school.” I could have died in an instant if that moment went a different way.
We as a student body and faculty were lucky nothing happened. Other Kansas schools and other schools across the US were not as lucky. According to Education Week’s reporting, at least 39 school shootings have resulted in injuries or deaths in 2024. Since 2018 there have been 223 shootings in schools.
Every school is meant to be a safe place. The exact definition for that is “a place that provides a physically and emotionally safe environment for a person or group of people.” My definition for school is a place we are challenged every day, even if we don’t like it. A place we can walk in the halls for fun and go to the vending machine with friends. A place where the lunch room is obnoxiously loud and annoying, but at least you’re with your friends. A place where you arrive as early as 7 a.m. and sometimes leave as late as 8 p.m. A place you can make memories with your friends. Our school is supposed to be a place you feel safe, a place you learn.
Our school shouldn’t be a place I am scared I might not walk away from because of people with guns. People who could make the choice to kill because they feel like it. It should not be a place I hate. It is not supposed to be a place I feel unsafe in. It should not be a place that has more than five police cars surrounding it. It should not be a place where a student is taken into custody on an ongoing investigation. Schools shouldn’t be a place people take their last breath in. It should not be a place where someone texts me “are you okay” because of what happened.
We need a reality check when it comes to guns and honestly I am happy to give it.
