Small town people are proud people. We are proud enough, in fact, to be quite angry when someone threatens our community, including our schools and our children within them. In the past month, threats that have been levelled against schools in Kemptville and Iroquois have hit close to home, but the worst part is – there really isn’t anything we can do about it.
When a person commits the cowardly act of calling in an anonymous threat to a school, it’s true that even the police often have an incredibly difficult time locating the culprit(s). A mob of infuriated parents is unlikely to fair any better. And ultimately, we are left asking “why?”
There are many possible reasons why a person would want to threaten a school, not that there is any situation in which it’s ever acceptable. The possibilities range from likely to extremely unlikely. It could be a criminal organization – perhaps one not even based in this country – wanting to test the vulnerabilities of the Canadian school system in preparation for future ransom demands or other financial schemes. It could be more personal, such as a disgruntled former student who wants to “punish” the school with inconveniences. Probably least likely, but still possible, is that some students found a way to get their school closed for free vacation days. These reasons are speculative and they are only a few out of potentially dozens of possibilities, but it just goes to show how complicated the “why” can be when it comes to senseless crimes.
No matter what the “why” is, it really shouldn’t matter. So long as these threats keep being made, parents will continue to be afraid, and students will continue to sit at home learning nothing on days when they are supposed to be getting an education. A precedent has been set. Any awful person who finds a way to ensure their own anonymity has the power to shut down an entire public school (or lock it down) for at least a day. If the goal of these threats was to explore the vulnerabilities of our schools, then not only did the perpetrators succeed, but they also brought these same vulnerabilities to our attention.
Sweeping changes need to be made to the security of schools, particularly high schools. It’s true that almost all intermediate and secondary schools operate with the main set of doors unlocked for the entire school day. Yes, office staff are supposed to be on the lookout for who is coming and going, but anyone who has ever picked up their child from such a school knows what a busy place the office can be. Sneaking past the office is anything but difficult. Furthermore, particularly here in small town Ontario, “security” at schools is simply within the purview of educators who, by and large, are not trained in formal security procedures. No one wants to see students enter school through metal detectors under the watchful eye of security guards like in some USA schools, but having a dedicated safety officer on site might become necessary sooner rather than later.
One consideration that should forever boggle our minds is this: Why are we primarily relying on the goodwill and gentlemanly behaviour of criminals as our first best defence against school violence? It seems that we are currently operating on a “schools are safe unless someone tells us that they are going to commit a violent act” assumption. Have we completely forgotten about the category of people who aren’t so polite about their ill intentions? Have we not considered that the people most likely to actually commit school violence are also the least likely to provide the “courtesy” of an advanced warning that ensures an empty school when they arrive?
What we are at risk for here is a truly dangerous situation. What if we are becoming trained to think that since schools are deemed unsafe on days when direct threats have been levelled, then likewise, schools are confirmed safe on days when no such threats are made? I am reminded of the end of the movie “Signs”, in which Graham and Merrill use the baby monitor to check if it’s safe to come out of the basement. Hearing no chatter, they assume it’s safe, perhaps forgetting that the absence of evidence (radio chatter) to confirm alien presence is not the same as evidence confirming that the coast is clear. We need to be careful about letting school security get lax on days when no anonymous phone calls come through. Absence of threat evidence is not the same as a confirmation that we can let our guard down.
A bad person who wants to truly determine to commit “a violent act involving weapons” (as has been the common threat) against a local school would simply walk in the unlocked front door and commence with violence. Life isn’t a chess match. Our opponents are not obligated to declare “you are in check” to give us a chance before making their final move. It’s therefore time that we start treating schools as the secure environments that they should be every day of the academic year, not just when someone has phoned in a threat. If we had intermediate and secondary schools with chronically locked doors at minimum, and perhaps also a dedicated security officer, we would be able to open schools even on days when pranksters and opportunists decide to stir the pot. Until then, we can only hope that disruptions to our children’s school year are few and far between.
