These are statistically rare events. According to the US Secret Service (as of a couple of years ago, I’m sure the statistics are still similar), schools are still one of the safest places for children. Your kids are safer at school than they are almost anywhere else. I’m not suggesting complacency and if it can happen at an Amish schoolhouse in rural PA, it can happen anywhere.
I’m not sure you can 100% prevent these things without turning the school into a prison. I don’t want that for me or my kids. We need to do our best to implement reasonable security measures and trust God for the rest.
Someone referenced training. FASTER Saves Lives offers their training to school staff free of charge. It’s excellent stuff. That is the minimum training standard that should be required for armed school staff. It requires an initial one day foundations class, then a three day Level 1 class. They also have a three day Level 2 class. They have a live fire shoot house, do force on force scenarios with air soft, and give the students an enhanced OPOTA shooting qualification demanding a higher hit rate than the state of Ohio requires of peace officers. It includes shooting and moving, offhand shooting, reloads, head shots, all under the stress of a timer. The concealed carrier only has to pay for ammo and travel. Even the motel is included free of charge. This is affordable training that will take someone from the ground up and get them trained at a level that they claim exceeds the average law enforcement officer when it comes to shooting and responding to mass shooters. They also focus on medical response and send each student home from Level I with a trauma kit. I think medical training for school staff just might be the most overlooked area of school security. Many teachers are CPR trained. They should also be trained in Stop the Bleed.
In answer to “what can we do?” I suggest taking kids out of the public school system. Private education is worth the cost. Homeschooling is cheaper yet. I know those options aren’t for everyone and I know money doesn’t grow on trees. Someone said private schools may not be safer than public. I haven’t done the study, but I suspect if we did, we would find private schools in general and Christian schools in particular have a lower incidence of violence than public schools. Whatever you do, choose your child’s school carefully. But, again, it happened at an Amish school, so it can happen anywhere.
Unfortunately, our nation has developed a culture of death. We kicked God of of public schools. We can no longer tell our kids God said, “thou shalt not kill.” We kill kids by the millions through abortion. We are destroying the nuclear family. (How many school shooters have had intact homes? Some have. Many have not. How many of those homes have both a mom and a dad who are highly involved in the lives of their children?) I respectfully think we have the answer as why this happens.
What can you do? Be a good involved mom or dad. Be close to your kids. Specifically, know your kid’s friends. The Secret Service talks about “leakage” where these shooters often communicate their intentions ahead of time. There was a failure of the community to report this guy. From a standpoint of security, we want redundant perimeters around the school (e.g. a locked door). I suggest the community act as a “perimeter” where someone who sees something on social media or whatever, actually says something. (Of course, in Parkland law enforcement absolutely failed to respond appropriately to multiple concerns.) Teenagers have a code of silence where they don’t “rat” out other kids. That code of silence needs to be broken. Parents need to foster an open and transparent relationship with their children. Parents should be monitoring their kids’ phones, social media accounts, and online presence.
Sorry for the long post.
